Race Equality Charter Action Plan

History and current events compel us to examine race and social injustice.  

Wednesday’s meeting of the University’s Corporate Management Team was dedicated to just one topic – Race Equality at the University of Wolverhampton.

We have a zero tolerance stance on discrimination of any kind, and pride ourselves on being the University of Opportunity. However we have to journey further to address racial inequality for both students and staff.

Whilst difficult to admit, it is clear in some aspects the experience here at Wolverhampton is not the same for our Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities of students and colleagues when compared with their white counterparts. This is our challenge.

To make meaningful and lasting changes it is important that we work on evidence and feedback to create plans which can be implemented and monitored. To achieve this, students and staff have been working together to develop the University’s new Race

Equality Charter Action Plan which is based on analysis of extensive data and survey results.

The Charter seeks to embed five key principles on which the action plan is based:

• Race inequality persists in higher education as it does in British society. It is inherent in that it can be structural or institutionalised; it pervades culture and is hidden or it can be specific and overt.
• UK society and higher education cannot reach its full potential unless it can benefit from the talents of the whole population and until individuals from all ethnic backgrounds can benefit equally from the opportunities it affords.
• In developing solutions to racial inequalities, we hope to base these on sound principles of achieving long-term institutional and cultural change.
• Black, Asian and minority ethnic students and staff are not a homogenous group. People from different ethnic backgrounds have different experiences of and outcomes from/within higher education, and that complexity needs to be considered in analysing data and developing actions.
• All individuals have multiple identities, and the intersection of those different identities will be considered wherever possible.

We now want to hear from you about the draft action plan – does it hit the spot? Is there anything missing?

You can find the draft Race Equality Action Plan, as well as details about how to get involved in this consultation on the Equality and Diversity Unit’s webpage or email the University’s Race Equality Lead Sukhvinder Singh: Sukhvinder.singh@wlv.ac.uk 

I urge all of you to get involved in this consultation, and in the wider work of tackling racial disadvantage wherever it is found within our University – this is an issue for all of us and we must solve it together.

Geoff Layer, Vice-Chancellor

Ayokunle Falana, President, Students’ Union