Students researching the student experience of ethnic minority students Suneela Ahmed, PhD student, Urban Design Neil Currant, OCSLD Dianne Regisford, PhD student, Social Sculpture

Outline Background to why we are doing the project. The role of student researchers in the project. – Why get involved? – Personal benefits? – Benefits to the project. Discussion

Background The university is more than 3% below OFFA ( Office for Fair Access ) target for completion rates for BME students. BME students are less likely to get a 1 st or 2.1 (at Brookes we calculated around 45% less likely, trying to take account of other factors) By 2016 we risk being more than 3% below our OFFA target for BME ‘Good’ completion.

FT U/G Home students % of BME% of White% of BME with good completion % of White with good completion Attainment gap From FE % From other % Of known Tariff over % Of known Tariff below % Unknown tariff % Table 1: Proportion of BME and White students entering Brookes and gaining good degrees based on entry tariffs and where they last studied (combined data for )

Project To investigate the BME student experience Combining APTT ( Academic Performance Tracking Tool ) data with qualitative interviews. What sort of place is Brookes for BME students?

Approach to qualitative data collection Employ student assistants to recruit and interview participants - generic student assistant job description (pioneered by Berry O'Donovan) Why? – To reduce the power distance to get honest, open stories. Built into the research design.

A word on ethics The ethics committee had some concerns about using students as researchers and doing the interviews for institutional research.

Benefits to the project Challenge staff perceptions / thinking Generate ideas Different Contacts Different Skills

Why I am involved - Suneela Research literacy Academic literacy “I hope to gain practical experience of doing qualitative interviews which will benefit in my research degree studies.” “As a teacher every year I have felt that literature and theories on architecture of the third world is very limited- thus the course contents have a western tilt- both in terms of content and theory. The question about overcoming this problem has been a burning issue for me personally for the last eight years.”

Why I am involved - Suneela Personal interest “being an international student in the UK currently, and having done my Masters from Australia where again I was an international student and being a socialist at heart it is but natural that I sympathize and can relate to issues BME students face.”

Dianne

Discussion points The value of / engagement of student researchers ‘Paying’ for engagement? The institutional position on student researchers (ethics?)