Who is worthy of a place on these walls? Postgraduate students, UK universities, and institutional racism

Ahmet, Akile

doi:10.1111/area.12627

Cited by 27 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The four key areas that were examined were education, health, employment and crime/policing. Contrary to other research evidence (for example, Tate and Page, 2018;Ahmet, 2020), the report argued that central systems and institutions in Britain were not racist and that the existing disparities had very little to do with racism. Contradicting abundant research claiming otherwise, the report claimed that there was a reluctance 'to acknowledge that UK is open and fair' (Race Disparity Unit, 2021: 6) by some communities, and this openness can be evidenced by the success of some minority groups in education and employment.…”

Section: Introductioncontrasting

confidence: 82%

Recentring anti-racist practice in social work education and training in England: a qualitative study

Pentaris

Raja

Hanna

et al. 2022

Critical and Radical Social Work

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Data from nine focus-group discussions is presented here, contained within a larger study. The focus groups involved social work students, academics, practice educators and newly qualified social workers, and explored challenges and opportunities as these emerged from the upsurge of the Black Lives Matter movement and relevant activism following the end of May 2020. The majority of participants do not feel that they have been prepared well for anti-racist practice; more than one third of the respondents has felt discriminated against in their practice; and most claimed that their placement or practice adheres to culturally sensitive practice. This article concludes that a sustained agenda in social work education and training is needed that will address anti-racist practice by name, as well as promote a greater degree of self-awareness and self-understanding of professionals.

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Section: Introductioncontrasting

confidence: 82%

Recentring anti-racist practice in social work education and training in England: a qualitative study

Pentaris

Raja

Hanna

et al. 2022

Critical and Radical Social Work

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“…Postgraduate students, UK universities, and institutional racism, Akile Ahmet captures the experiences of BAME postgraduate students in London-based Russell Group institutions through focus groups, in-depth interviews and the use of photography in which participants visualise their experiences. The participants cited a range of experiences that resonated with my time at university decades earlier, such as ill-tempered responses from lecturers when they are engaged in debate (Ahmet, 2020). The feeling of being 'othered' by the imagery of predominantly White leaders and historical figures from the past looming from institution walls was resonant with my childhood memories of visiting spaces like the Smithsonian National Art Gallery.…”

Section: Designing In Intelligencementioning

confidence: 99%

Intelligent Leaders, Intelligent Spaces

Everitt¹

2022

Narrative Expansions

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As an undergraduate, I had an internship at an agency writing recruitment advertisements. The ads ranged from the small want ads for salespeople or programmers to the full-page spreads in newspapers and magazines for directors and executives. I was no Don Draper from Madmen. I didn't particularly enjoy the job, but it taught me to know my audience. And I learned that I enjoyed pitching ads for some audiences more than others. Now, I am the Director of Library, Archives and Learning Services at the University of East London (UEL). The university is located in the Borough of Newham, one of the poorest in London with an ethnically diverse population that was one of the most adversely impacted by COVID19. The University has a 70% Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) student population and a staff population of almost 70% White. So, many students do not see themselves in the staff population. Most of the students are the first in their families to attend university. According to UEL internal data, the degree awarding gap (percentage difference between groups receiving a 1 st /2:1 or A/B grade) between BAME and White students was about 13% in 2019/20, down from 21% the previous year. However, the gap between Black and White students was just over 17%, down from roughly 25% the previous year.The university has undertaken a range of measures to close the degree awarding gap. It has created an Office of Institutional Equity (OIE), the first of its kind in the United Kingdom, to lead on delivery of an ambitious action plan to achieve the Race Equality Charter (REC). The REC is a framework created by AdvanceHE to aid institutions in identifying and challenging the barriers that block the progression of BAME students and staff (AdvanceHE, 2020). The UEL action plan includes staff training on inclusive teaching practices and anti-racism as well as reviews of such institutional policies and procedures as recruitment, performance management, and disciplinaries. The OIE also monitors the equality, diversity, and inclusion data for trends, sector benchmarking, and achievement of targets.Key to the success of narrowing the degree awarding gap is staff knowing their audience. We must see the whole student -their lived experiences, academic needs, caring responsibilities, work demands -so that we can provide the right level of support to lead to successful outcomes for the students. However, to truly support our students, we must be able to empathise with the challenges that they may face and be aware of and manage our own attitudes towards them. This is called emotional intelligence. As a leader, I must support my team in becoming emotionally intelligent and draw on their individual strengths to enable them to effectively support the students; thus, using my social intelligence. So, I must be an emotionally and socially intelligent leader to create the culture that enables my team to deliver spaces and services that give our students a sense of belonging and enable them to be academically successful. Ideally, the students will ...

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“…In my previous research (Ahmet, 2020a, b), I consider the role that space plays in shaping the experiences of Black and minority ethnic students at predominately white universities. I argue that universities are spaces of both power and privilege (Ahmet, 2020a, b), within which British colonial histories are inscribed on the campuses and architecture of many of Britain's oldest and most celebrated universities. The majority of UK elite, research intensive Russell [1] group universities were founded, built and established to satisfy the needs of the British Empire (see Bhambra et al , 2018).…”

Section: Sharp White Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, Black and minority ethnic students are still underrepresented in research intensive universities at less than 4% compared with the UK average of 8% (www.HESA.ac.uk). Alexander and Arday (2015) and Ahmet (2020a, b) have documented that many Black and minority ethnic students remain concentrated in less prestigious, teaching intensive universities and under-represented in elite, research-intensive universities. This is also tied to the imperial histories of older universities, which new teaching-intensive universities do not possess.…”

Section: Sharp White Backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stop the pain: Black and minority ethnic scholars on diversity policy obfuscation in universities

Ahmet

2021

EDI

Self Cite

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PurposeThe author extends the work on diversity policy in UK higher education by centring the voices of Black and minority ethnic scholars and de-centring white comfort with the aim of a call to stop the pain that sanitised university diversity policies cause Black and minority ethnic scholars.Design/methodology/approachUsing in-depth qualitative and auto-ethographic research methods, this paper engages with both respondents' narratives as well as the author's experience of carrying out the research within the walls of predominately white universities.FindingsIn order for universities to move beyond hollow and sanitised diversity, they must centre the voices of Black and minority ethnic scholars. Respondents spoke of their experiences of pain, and feelings of “taking up” space in predominately white universities. The author also discusses respondents' feelings towards diversity and inclusion policies such as the Race Equality Charter Mark.Originality/valueThe research is built on previous work on diversity by decentring white comfort.

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Who is worthy of a place on these walls? Postgraduate students, UK universities, and institutional racism

Cited by 27 publications

References 16 publications

Recentring anti-racist practice in social work education and training in England: a qualitative study

Recentring anti-racist practice in social work education and training in England: a qualitative study

Intelligent Leaders, Intelligent Spaces

Stop the pain: Black and minority ethnic scholars on diversity policy obfuscation in universities

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