What is the Race Equality Charter?
AdvanceHE’s Race Equality Charter is a national scheme aimed at improving the representation, progression and success of minority ethnic staff and students in higher education.
The REC provides a framework that guides us in identifying and evaluating institutional and cultural barriers standing in the way of racially minoritised staff and students. It covers academic staff, professional services staff, student progression and awarding, and diversity of curriculum.
The University’s engagement with the REC demonstrates our determination to tackle racism and racial inequalities in our institution and to create an environment where individuals of all ethnicities and races can thrive. There is still considerable work to be done to achieve that, but we believe we have the right processes in place.
Race Equality Charter Principles
By becoming a member of the Race Equality Charter, the University has committed to the following guiding principles:
- Race inequalities are a significant issue in higher education. Racial inequalities are not necessarily overt, isolated incidents. Racism is an everyday facet of UK society and racial inequalities manifest themselves in everyday situations, processes and behaviours.
- UK 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, it is important that they are aimed at achieving long-term institutional cultural change, avoiding a deficit model where solutions are aimed at changing the individual.
- Minority ethnic staff and students 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 should be considered wherever possible.
Self-Assessment Team (SAT)
To support our race equality work we have formed a Race Equality Steering Group, that ecompasses the Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment Team, chaired by Prof. Tom Lawson, Deputy Vice-Chancellor. The University asked for colleagues to express an interest in joining the Race Equality Steering Group and members include staff from across the University as well as representatives from Northumbria Students' Union.
For more information on the charter, please visit the Advance HE website.
Current staff at Northumbria University can find out more by visiting the Race Equality Charter pages on the Intranet, and students can find more information on the Student Portal.
