A new paper by Dr Katharine Hubbard, Making Metrics Matter:
Tackling Racial Inequity in Higher Education (HEPI
Debate Paper 43), argues progress towards racial equity in
English higher education has been ‘notoriously slow' and calls
for structural changes to accelerate improvements.
Black and Asian students remain less likely to graduate with a
First or Upper Second class degree. Black academics are severely
underrepresented, particularly at professorial level, with only
1% of UK professors identifying as Black. Dr Hubbard warns that
without systemic reform, these inequities will persist
indefinitely.
The paper considers the current regulatory landscape, including
the Equality Act (2010), Access and Participation Plans and the
Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF). It finds racial equity is
not positioned as a major strategic priority for institutions,
allowing them to ‘get away with' poor performance on equity while
maintaining strong reputational metrics.
Using new analysis of TEF2023 outcomes, Dr Hubbard demonstrates
even Gold-rated institutions can have significant racial
inequities. Seven TEF Gold providers have Black awarding gaps
that exceed 25 percentage points, and more than half of Gold and
Silver institutions significantly under-recruit Black academics.
In some cases, students could complete their degree without ever
encountering a Black academic.
Dr Hubbard proposes a pragmatic model for embedding racial equity
into TEF assessments. Her flag-based system identifies
institutions with significant inequity in student outcomes or
staff representation, and adjusts TEF ratings accordingly. Under
one scenario, around one in five providers could see their TEF
rating change due to racial inequity or underrepresentation.
The paper concludes with a call to the Office for Students and
the wider sector to take bolder action. It argues that Access and
Participation Plans have raised awareness but lack the
reputational clout of TEF ratings. Incorporating inequity and
underrepresentation more directly into the TEF would send a clear
signal that racial disparities are unacceptable in a system that
claims to champion excellence.
OBE, the Director of HEPI,
said:
‘England's universities have a strong record on diversifying
their student entrants, especially among people with different
ethnic backgrounds. However, some institutions have done more
than others, there continues to be a substantial Black
degree-awarding gap and the number of Black professors continues
to be very low at many places and across the sector as a whole.
‘Universities are, quite rightly, independent and autonomous, but
they are also accountable to regulators, students and wider
society through initiatives like the Teaching Excellence
Framework. This new report considers how existing tools could be
used in a smarter fashion to ensure the higher education sector
fully reflects the society it serves.
‘I doubt everyone will agree with all the recommendations, but
our hope is that the paper contributes to an important debate.'
Dr Hubbard, the author of the new report, said:
‘Can an institution really be considered Gold standard when it
has a Black awarding gap of over 25 percentage points and
students never encounter a Black academic? If racial inequity is
a structural issue, we can only tackle it through changing
structures. TEF is the most visible badge of quality in the
English higher education sector – it's time to make racial equity
a more substantive part of the metrics that drive institutional
behaviours and action.'
‘Many institutions highlighted in the new report rightly have
strong reputations for widening participation in higher
education. However, this analysis of student outcomes indicates
that Black and Asian students are not getting the same benefits
from studying at some of these institutions as their White peers
in terms of student outcomes. We must ensure that going to
university does not further entrench inequity in society.”
