Advance HE research to uncover why Black graduates students’ experiences differ from their peers
Gary Loke, Advance HE’s Director of Knowledge, Innovation and Delivery, said, “Last week’s report from the Social Market Foundation Graduate outcomes in London provides yet more evidence of the barriers to attainment for Black graduates who are, ‘less likely to gain a first class degree, less likely to be in graduate employment and less likely to be earning £25,000 or above compared to White Graduates.’
“Our own work shows that from application to awarding to progression into postgraduate studies, Black students’ experiences of higher education simply do not live up to those of their White peers. These gaps are quantified in our annual EDI statistical reports, submissions to the Race Equality Charter and our Advance HE-HEPI student experience surveys, as well as continuously encountered in our bespoke research and consultancy projects with individual institutions.
“This year, Advance HE will undertake research to explore why Black students’ experiences differ from their peers’ in two phases. First, this summer, we will pull together the different sources of information – including our own work as well as a range of recent publications – to identify where there are gaps in our understanding of why these discrepancies exist. These gaps will be used to develop and launch our own primary research with Black undergraduate and postgraduate students in late Autumn 2021.”