Creating racial and social justice in higher education

A whole provider approach to creating an engaging university experience for Black and minoritised students that is reflective of the university’s diverse student body and respective of their cultural heritage.

London Metropolitan University does not have a seasonal relationship with the race equity agenda. Addressing racial and social justice sits at the heart of its mission. London Met’s institutional approach, developed in consultation with staff and students, reflects its commitment to ensure it delivers real change across the university.

While fundamentally based on enhanced academic practice, it believes every individual in every department of the university is part of the solution to create the systems and environment where everyone is respected and valued.

London Met has always had a strong social mission, and it recognises the overwhelming evidence which links inclusive curricula with improved outcomes for Black and minoritised students (HEA/ECU, NUS/UUK).

Ethnic minority and in particular Black students, at London Met and across the sector, are historically more likely to drop out of higher education, less likely to complete their studies on time, more likely to be subject to misconduct investigations and less likely to be awarded higher honours or progress to graduate-level employment.

To unlock students’ capacity to be agents of societal change, they need to be supported by lecturers and professional departments that understand the impact of race and coloniality on the way academic conventions, knowledge and traditions are formed. To do this, the university must address systemic barriers, both seen and unseen, and replace them with structural and cultural change.

Central to its transformative approach is the creation of the Centre for Equity and Inclusion (CEI). Sitting at the heart of London Met, it is the ideological driving force behind its work to enhance pedagogy, student experience and workplace culture.

Working across the institution with academics, professional service staff, students and the student’s union, the CEI’s plan is founded on four central tenets.

1. Informed and knowledgeable staff
2. Inclusive curricula
3. Enhanced governance
4. Student partnership

Informed and knowledgeable staff

The first phase contextualises the need and urgency for change through the provision of informative data disaggregated through academic levels and analysed through an intersectional lens.

In this case the value-added metric and an enhanced understanding of inclusive behaviours through the exploration of language, power and privilege, active allyship, microaggressions and reflective practice.

Inclusive curricula

This stage is centred on London Met’s new Education for Social Justice framework (ESJ).

Designed by staff and students from across the university, the ESJ is in part a response to eliminate its awarding gaps, however the overriding motivation to introduce the framework is to ensure the university’s curricula and practice align with principles of equity, with who its students are and the challenges facing London and its communities.

Training focuses on the six pillars of the ESJ: inclusive assessment; inclusive leadership; identity, personalisation and reflection; critical theory and pedagogy; relationships and psychosocial environment; and accessibility.

Enhanced governance

Through the establishment of its CEI, London Met is driving a wide-sweeping programme of change to create conditions that give students and staff the opportunity to unlock their full potential whilst building a cohesive and harmonious community united by the pursuit of excellence in social justice.

Responsibility for change has been placed at a local level with regular reports on actions and progress presented to the CEI. It has also established an access and participation plan (APP) operational delivery group (APOG) that oversees all APP activity and has representatives responsible for its successful delivery from across the institution.

Through the APOG, a monitoring and evaluation framework has been developed to capture all activity across the student lifecycle, with standardised evaluations where possible to compare and contrast the impact of activities and interventions.

In addition to this, the university has enhanced quality processes to ensure periodic reporting and monitoring of course level performance in relation to the awarding gap and implementation of the ESJ framework throughout the academic year.

During 2022, the university will be introducing an Equity Assurance Scheme which will further strengthen governance of EDI through data informed departmental action plans and enhanced annual monitoring.

Student partnership

Students and the student voice are central to the university’s approach. Wherever possible, student and student union representation has been included in design and decision making processes, while student curriculum partners have also been employed and trained to work with academic teams to enhance their academic offer and ensure it is current, reflective and accessible.

The university is only two years into its journey and there is much more to be done. However, the university as a whole has embraced this radical change programme which has been visibly and vocally championed by the board and Vice Chancellor.

London Met is optimistic that its approach will lead to significantly improved outcomes across the student lifecycle. As such, it has set itself the following targets to evaluate its success:

• Implementation of the ESJ framework by September 2022 for all degree programmes
• Reduce the degree awarding gap to 10 percentage points by 2025. Any gap is unacceptable, so it is setting an additional stretch target of 5 percentage points
• Eliminate disparities in non-continuation between White students and Black and minoritised students by 2025
• Develop a mixed methods evaluation process which will enable the university to assess student satisfaction towards staff competency in discussions on race and racism.

For staff, engagement with training has been at the capacity of resources while the university has also seen increased attendance at supplementary equity focussed events such as Critical Conversations Cafes and open SLT led Q&A sessions.

Strategic plans at a local level have been appraised and fed back with targets included and worked towards.

Early APP evaluations of new continuation and completion activities, particularly around transition and induction, have shown increased engagement and enhanced connectivity and belonging among students.