‘Same old story, just a different policy’: race and policy making in higher education in the UK

Abstract

Evidence suggests that Black and minority ethnic (BME) students and staff continue to be disadvantaged in higher education institutions (HEIs) in the UK. Policy making has been introduced to specifically address such inequalities. This article draws on critical policy analysis and 45 interviews to explore the impact of the recently introduced Race Equality Charter (REC) as a measure to address such inequalities. By using principles of Critical Race Theory (CRT), we argue that racism continues to play a key role in the experiences of BME groups in HEIs and policy making. Consequently, the enactment of policy making on race through the REC works to benefit HEIs by adhering to White normative practices and behaviours which contribute to a system which reinforces and perpetuates White privilege.

Do UK Universities Care about Hedgehogs More Than People of Colour?

“…While many would welcome UK universities participating in the Race Equality Charter with greater enthusiasm, it is important to be aware of the limitations of the Race Equality Charter too. Bhopal and Pitkin [10] have emphatically argued that, at best, the Race Equality Charter is a superficial 'tick-box' exercise which UK universities use as a publicity stunt, and at worse, it is a deliberate effort at preserving existing racial inequality by creating an illusion of change [11]. In this regard, they argue that people of colour suffer from UK universities' involvement in the Race Equality Charter firstly because people of colour are often burdened with making the application for an award and secondly because people of colour do not receive any tangible benefits from any awards that are granted.…”

A manifesto to decentre theatre and performance studies

“…(Davis 2020) The decolonisation movement in Anglophone academic centres is increasingly adopting the additive approach to fix the problem: altering the curricula by adding a few artists from Asia, Africa, the Americas, and the Middle East, and hiring a handful of Black and Global Majority scholars. While such efforts are well meaning, this approach does not aim at structural change but works within it (Bhopal 2020;Joseph-Salisbury 2019). Following the state-sanctioned murder of George Floyd and the insurgence of Black Lives Matter movement across the globe, the solidarity statements released by Higher Education institutions risk becoming what Sara Ahmed calls 'non-performatives' -'the reiterative and citational practice by which discourse does not produce the effects that it names' (Ahmed 2012, 117, emphasis in original).…”

GLASS CEILINGS IN NEW ZEALAND UNIVERSITIES: Inequities in Māori and Pacific promotions and earnings

“…Using an intersectional lens when considering inequity in the academy may shed further light onto how to address these issues, as it has in health research (Cormack et al, 2018). Furthermore, diversity initiatives and policies within higher education have a history of privileging gender over ethnicity (Bhopal & Henderson, 2019a, 2019bBhopal & Pitkin, 2020). A lack of acknowledgement that Indigenous scholars and people of colour, particularly women, may be disproportionately disadvantaged within institutional structures could result in ineffective diversity policies focused on gender, that may reinforce white privilege within the academy (Ahmed, 2012(Ahmed, , 2017DiAngelo, 2011;Moreton-Robinson, 2000).…”