The Pandemic In Numbers

WHAT DOES EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION SIGNIFY IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION ARENA?

rather illuminating. Women comprise a group of 104,305 compared to the 118, 865 full time male academics in the sector. That is approximately 42 % of the total population in this sector. There, are 6,345 female professors in the UK, compared to 16,415 males. These are statistics published by Advance HE for 2019/20.

Some examples of the initiatives, which have been brought in to address the gaps in progression for those members of staff representing gender, are research into gender issues, encouraging schoolgirls into engineering careers, Aston Women’s Forum, Aston Women in Business Society, Women returning to the work environment following on from career breaks.

In terms of initiatives, which have been adding to this agenda, Aston University convened a workshop on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion as part of the Annual Law Conference, which was hosted virtually by Aston University 15th- 16th April 2021. This workshop explored the themes of professional identity and gender and the teaching of Law and race in HE. The underlying message was to be transformative, even if that means development using a very incremental/ slow burn method. On a national level, Advance HE, the organisation that champions development of the HE sector through training and membership launched the Aurora programme in 2013 to promote leadership in the HE sector for women, through a series of workshops and development days, for networking and sharing good practice. There are now 8,300 women who have joined this programme from across 200 institutions in the UK and Ireland, examining the four key areas of leadership skills: Identity, Impact and Voice, Politics and Influence and Adaptive Leadership Skills.

The support of all colleagues from a mental health perspective is of course key to all action plans brought in by the University. The Covid- 19 pandemic has emphasised the significance of this. Those involved in the delivery of education were seen to have key roles; nevertheless, the stress, which the pandemic brought about, was palpable. Importantly there is excellent peer support offered through the Mental Health First Aiders scheme whereby colleagues who have received a programme of training can talk about: the early signs/ symptoms of someone becoming unwell, and the ways in which people can support themselves and where they go for more help.

I move now to discussing the impact of the EDI agenda on our students. As part of the drive and agenda of inclusivity which Aston prides itself upon, there is recognition for those students who have caring responsibilities, and financial support for those students with children, alongside a nursery facility available to staff and students. Aston University is also signed up to The Disability Confident scheme, which encourages employers across the UK to actively recruit and retain employees with a disability. In a time when the UK is currently experiencing shortages in the labour market, there is a lot of business sense in embracing this scheme and in engaging with policies and initiatives to recruit the best staff possible whilst at the same time acting positively to create inclusivity in the workplace. This scheme has three levels it offers to support employers on this journey; level 1 Disability Confident Committed, level 2 Disability Confident Employer, level 3 Disability Confident Leader. All employers join this voluntary scheme at level 1 and work through the levels, with the facility to access the guides for good practice, and the resources for free.

The Enabling Team within Aston has an overriding responsibility for ensuring inclusiveness for students in terms of student experience on campus. In respect of the ever-important area of mental health, well-being and support, this team provides a comprehensive, albeit overstretched service nowadays for students to reach out and receive counselling, and face anxieties or mental health difficulties encountered during their studies.

As well as students having the facility to be able to join any of their own personal faith societies on campus, the Martin Luther King Multi Faith Centre is a congregation forum for all religious denominations, in an atmosphere of interreligious understanding and cooperation. As an academic, I have found this Centre to be of immense value especially where students have recently joined the University and wish to break outside their immediate learning groups to meet other students from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds, who are studying a different discipline.

Decolonisation of the curriculum is currently an agenda being picked up by approximately 30 universities in the UK. Aston’s working group in this areas seeks to scrutinise the use of language in teaching, and the curriculum content and how it feeds into stereotypical, traditional and now outdated concepts, which need to be questioned in the modern learning environment. Introducing the themes of Equality and Diversity into our module curricula is positive and assists in preparing students for the workplace and in creating open-minded inclusive leaders of tomorrow.

Universities and HE providers should be providing the forum for high-level debate and the formulation of academic discussion on these agendas. There has been much press coverage recently regarding how academic opinion on aspects of the EDI agenda is received within the HE environment, and questions raised therefore on whether or not there really is freedom of speech in the sector? My aim in writing this article is to highlight the myriad of ways in which the facilitation of all genders, belief, cultures, races and religions are occupying the same learning space, and are accommodated. These are exciting and progressive times in the development of agendas which support these important themes, and if we can share experiences, and mechanisms which bring about progress, then much the better.

We cannot guarantee the outcome in implementing an agenda, but what we can do is map a path for all stakeholders which involves dialogue, discussion, reflection and dissection of values and ethics, and which hopefully will contribute towards a more inclusive environment for all.