University News Last updated 03 October 2023
Helping students from marginalised ethnic backgrounds realise their full potential will be the key objective of a new national project involving Birmingham City University (BCU).
Selected by the Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO), BCU will partner with five other universities and an independent evaluator to develop a wide range of multifaceted interventions aimed at reducing the ethnicity degree awarding gap.
The awarding gap refers to the significant difference in the proportions of students from marginalised ethnic backgrounds being awarded a first or upper second-class undergraduate degree when compared to white students.
Professor Peter Francis, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at BCU, said: “It is imperative that we support all students to realise their full potential and be the best they can be.
“We will learn a lot working with TASO that I hope will impact positively on what we do and the achievement of our students.”
The project stems from findings in TASO’s recently published report that analysed Access and Participation Plans (APPs) to understand the current landscape of interventions being delivered in the higher education sector to tackle the ethnicity degree awarding gap.
The TASO report found that interventions tended to be inadequately detailed and recommended that providers develop robust ‘Theories of Change’.
These include adapting assessment practice, developing curricula, financial support, peer mentoring, harnessing student voice, placement and careers support, skills development and using learner analytics.
BCU is already pioneering work in this area and was among the first group of universities to submit a new APP to the Office for Students this summer.
An APP is a strategic plan that details how a university will improve equality of opportunity for targeted, underrepresented groups to access, succeed and progress from university.
Professor Francis said: “BCU is committed to step-changing what we do and how we do it to address the awarding gap – and the work of colleagues, particularly over the last year, has been targeted and focused.
“Through the partnership with TASO, I believe this work will develop further - and by collaborating nationally, we will be able to deliver evidence-based ways to tackle the challenges surrounding differential educational achievement."
The other HE providers involved in the project are Loughborough University, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Law, University of Southampton, and University of York.
Staffordshire University and Advance HE will act as the joint independent evaluator.
TASO aims to publish the Theories of Change and evaluation plans as prototypes for the sector to use in Spring 2024.