MP, Labour’s Shadow
Secretary of State for Education, has announced new plans to
improve diversity in higher education, following an analysis of
official figures showing the chronically low levels of
representation of female staff and staff from BME
backgrounds.
A Labour analysis of figures published by the Higher Education
Statistics Agency reveals the stark inequality in the staff of
the UK’s universities.
According to official figures, academic staff are 44 times more
likely to be white than black. Relative to the population as a
whole, academic staff are half as likely to be black, and the
proportion of black academic staff has increased by 0.15% since
2014/15.
In 2017/18, 164,115 academic staff were white, compared to only
3,725 black academic staff.
The same statistics show that women are hugely under-represented
at senior levels. Only 26% of professors were female, an increase
of 1% since 2013/14, and only 36% of academic staff and senior
academic staff are female.
Figures from Advance HE show a similar inequality, with only 25
black female professors in the UK.
Labour will commit to ending this inequality, by overhauling the
regulator, the Office for Students, to review the state of
inequality across the higher education sector and take the steps
needed to address it.
Labour will require the regulator to:
- Report on diversity and representation in higher education;
- Ensure that pay transparency reporting requirements include
data on gender and ethnicity pay gaps and the outcomes of
promotion decisions;
- Require institutions to set out what steps they are taking to
improve diversity and representation and to publish their
progress annually;
- Instruct institutions to publish clear and transparent
progression criteria including the steps toward attaining
Professorship;
- Provide clear guidance about the recruitment and progression
process, e.g. the nature and content of feedback;
- Research and promote dedicated and targeted initiatives to
support the progress of under-represented groups, such as early
career support and mentoring schemes.
MP, Labour’s Shadow
Secretary of State for Education, said:
“Inequality is endemic in our society, and sadly
our universities are no different.
“Like much of our establishment, our universities are too male,
pale and stale and do not represent the communities that they
serve or modern Britain.
“Women and staff from ethnic minority backgrounds are chronically
under-represented across these institutions, and in particular at
the most senior levels.
“Universities must do much more, and under Labour they will be
held to account.
“The Tories have failed to take meaningful action to tackle
inequality in our universities. Urgent action is needed to ensure
that our universities are genuinely representative of the
communities they serve, and allow everyone, student or staff,
regardless of their background, to reach their full potential.
“Labour will address this inequality, giving the Office for
Students distinct powers to address inequality in our
universities as part of a National Education Service that works
for the many, not the few.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
- Higher Education Staff Statistics: UK, 2017/18
https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/24-01-2019/sb253-higher-education-staff-statistics
These figures show that of a total of 211,980 academic staff,
164,115 (77.4%) were white, and 3,725 (1.76% were black.
- HESA’s 2015/16 stats show that of 201,380 academic staff,
3,205 (1.59%) were black.
- This compares to 3.3% of the population as a whole, according
to government data
https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/british-population/national-and-regional-populations/population-of-england-and-wales/latest
- Figures for gender can be found under the “contract levels”
heading in the HESA Higher Education Staff Statistics
https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/24-01-2019/sb253-higher-education-staff-statistics
