One of the four streams of the collaboration has focused on comparing how the different universities have sought to address the attainment gap by implementing change across their institutions. All recognised that this was fundamentally about changing organisational culture. As part of this project, Kingston carried out a series of interviews with vice chancellors (VCs), student union representatives, project leads from each institution, and Kingston University Governors. Here is a summary of some of the lessons learnt. While there are benefits and risks to each element, it is of vital importance that institutions hoping to address the attainment gap are clear what these are for their own institution and mitigate for them as required.
Organisational Change Synopsis . This resource summarises the interviews that were carried out at each institution and details some of the benefits of having each element in place for cultural change to take place. It also highlights some of the risks of not having these in place.
Top ten tips for BME student success . Hertfordshire University have introduced ten top tips for Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) student success, and staff have found these an excellent guide about the everyday changes they can make to encourage student success. You may find it useful to produce ten top tips for your institution.
Institutional approaches to addressing the BME attainment gap
While each institution within the collaboration has taken a different approach to organisational change, during the course of the interviews it was established that despite these different approaches there were key themes emerging that each institutional thought was essential for organisational change. Below are summaries of each collaboration partner’s approach to organisational change in relation to addressing BME student success. Each approach may contain elements that could be applied in your institution.
