Understanding and responding to the attainment gap
Identifying and further developing mechanisms to address differences in degree attainment focusing on black and minority ethnic students’ degree attainment
For: All involved in teaching and assessment of students; equality and diversity practitioners; student support services
When: August 2008 – December 2010
In January 2008, ECU and the Higher Education Academy (the Academy) released a report on Ethnicity, gender and degree attainment, responding to previous research on degree attainment published by the former Department for Education and Skills.
The report focused on variations in degree attainment, ways in which race equality and gender equality schemes have helped institutions to address attainment variations, and relevant teaching, learning and assessment activities and issues.
The report made a number of recommendations to the sector on:
- data collection and action
- learning, teaching, assessment and student support
- perceptions and understanding
- institutional infrastructure and governance
- policies and practice
- further research required.
Summit programme
ECU collaborated with the Academy on a summit programme to support a number of higher education institutions that have already identified an attainment gap between different ethnic groups and who wish to further develop, progress and evaluate the effectiveness of their work to address the recommendations above. Participation in the programme will involve attendance by institutional teams at three events over a nine-month period and engagement with associated institution-based activities.
The 15 institutional teams taking part are:
- Aston University
- University of Bedfordshire
- University of Bradford
- Coventry University
- University of Greenwich
- University of Hertfordshire
- Leeds Metropolitan University
- University of the Arts London
- London Metropolitan University
- University of Northampton
- Open University
- University of Portsmouth
- Roehampton University
- University of Teesside
- University of Westminster
Please visit the Academy's website for details of the fifteen teams and their work.
The outputs of this programme will inform shared learning to be disseminated to the sector in 2010.
Resources
Jointly with the Higher Education Academy and Coventry University, ECU held a one-day conference in July 2010, 'Meeting the challenge: Improving black and minority ethnic student success and attainment'. The conference saw a range of presentations on emergent research in this area, as well as initiatives that institutions have put in place to address the attainment gap. This included presentations from some of the teams involved in the summit programme. Materials from the day are available at the Coventry University website.
Related pages
Earlier project reports can be downloaded below:
- Ethnicity, gender and degree attainment: final report
- Ethnicity and Gender in Degree Attainment: An Extensive Survey of Views and Activities in English HEIs
- Degree Attainment, Ethnicity and Gender: Surveying Policies and Practices in English HEIs
- Degree Attainment, Ethnicity and Gender: A Literature Review
- Case studies report
- Interactions and the Modification of Effects - A Quantitative Analysis
- Qualitative data analysis