Understanding Minority Ethnic Flight from UK Higher Education

1. Understanding Minority Ethnic Flight from UK Higher Education Dr Kalwant Bhopal, Dr Hazel Brown and June Jackson. K.Bhopal@soton.ac.uk

2. Introduction • Race Relations Amendment Act (2000); Equalities Act (2010); Athena SWAN; Race Equality Charter (ECU). • Increase in BME students at HEIs (HEFCE 2012-13); Indian and Chinese students more likely to have a degree compared to White British (University of Manchester March 2014) • Inequalities continue to persist despite policy changes and changes in student body (Bhopal and Jackson, 2013; Pilkington, 2013); White applicants three times more likely to secure a professorial post compared to BME candidates (UCU, 2012).

3. BME academics in UK HE - statistics 14% minority ethnic population (England and Wales, Census 2011) HESA Data (2014) In 2012/13 out of a total of 17,880 professors: 85 were Black (less than 1%) 950 were Asian (5%) 365 were ‘other’ (including mixed) (2%) Overwhelming majority White 15,200 (85%)

4. Greater focus to date on gender rather than ethnicity Focus overall on students (widening participation, internationalisation), less focus on staff Glass ceiling/ivory ceiling ‘Being ruled out for promotion; not being encouraged to apply’ (ECU, 2011, p.34) ‘If BME staff were represented in the professoriate in the same proportion as they are among non-professorial academic staff there would be 2,130 professors of BME origin. So, there is a gap of 935 BME’ (UCU, 2012, p.5). Hyper-surveillance, ‘other’, intersectionalities Deem and Morley, 2006; Hey et al, 2011; Morley, 2013; Pilkington, 2013; Puwar, 2004. Representation and experiences

5. Bhopal and Jackson (2013) • Some doubts about equality in starting salary/point on scale • Higher threshold and filtering process (unwritten; unspoken) regarding promotion applications • REF: ‘neutralising ethnicity’/subjective biases • ‘Outsider’ status • Having to ‘fit in’: dress, communication styles (class, gender and race).

6. Research • Funded by Equality Challenge Unit • To understand reasons for overseas HE migration and explore ethnic differences; • To understand the push and pull factors which contribute to actual or potential overseas HE migration and whether these factors vary by ethnicity. • To establish how UK HEIs can retain BME academics and attract back those who have left.

7. Methodology Questionnaire survey distributed to all HEIs in UK (via ECU and our own contacts) until early April 2014 41 in-depth interviews (14 UK; 12 with previous overseas experience; 15 based overseas).

8. Survey Responses 1,201 responses of these: 146 (12.5%) BME and 1,024 (87.5%)White 504 (43%) female and 662 (57%) male 761 (65%) aged 40 and over, 417 (35%) under 40 12.4% self-identified as disabled 8.4% self-identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or other 732 (74%) in ‘old’ universities, 211 (21%) post-1992 One third of participants had overseas work experience

9. Positive elements of UK HE • Having a full-time permanent post • Good pension • Treated with equity • Co-operative working environment • Family friendly policies

10. Push factors away from the UK – recruitment • You have got to be ‘twice as good’ as white counterparts • Lack of transparency/ “who you know” • Perceived as not the ‘safe’ option [in the UK recruitment process] • Invisibility/not expected to be in the space - I arrived for the interview and I sat there, waiting and waiting. This man came [professor]. He came in, looked around, looked at me, walked out. After five minutes he came in, looked around the room, you know, you wait like a waiting room, and then he walked out again. And then I heard him say to the secretary, because at that time I was a Dr, he said: where’s Dr [name]? And then I heard her mumble something. And I saw his face turn red. And I thought: that’s it…I had had enough.

11. Push factors away from the UK: Barriers to promotion • Career ‘hits the buffers’ • Race as a factor in who is encouraged, or not, by senior colleagues – isolating and demotivating impact • Prospects limited and promotion ‘an illusion’ • Lack of transparency – ‘nebulous’ criteria • Feeling of being judged more harshly/different criteria introduced • Work on race, ethnicity, seen as a deficit • REF – recognition of publications outside the ‘Anglo-American’ world?

12. Pull factors to overseas - Academic • To work temporarily (unable to get work in UK – so aim to gain experience then return) • Supportive environment for BME scholars – and examples of others going overseas (permanent or secondment); positive messages from overseas institutions • Intellectually treated as an equal – credibility and status given to BME staff • Institutional space, and institutional support for black studies • Supportive environment for research (no RAE or REF) • Less of an administrative burden • Pay, terms and conditions

13. Pull factors to overseas - Lifestyle • Quality of lifestyle; better opportunities for family • Culture “Whereas in the USA we go out to dinners together, and there is always a sense of wanting to talk to everyone in the corridors, that culture is one that I value and like” • Better weather; travel; learning different languages • Giving something back, to make a difference (e.g. Africa; China; India)

14. What would attract back or retain BME academics in UK HE sector? 1 • A sense that BME academics would be welcomed and valued –that academic life has become more diverse – a critical mass • Recognise BME academics as repositories of knowledge, not just objects of study • Greater visibility of BME people in academic and decision making roles • Problematizing, and having a set of institutional frameworks that facilitate doing something about racism and lack of BME academics in senior positions • Acknowledge unspoken entitlement of certain people; acknowledge areas of disadvantage – micro-aggressions/day to day experiences of minority ethnic people which accumulate

15. What would attract back or retain BME academics in UK HE sector? 2 • A specific recognition of and valuing of diversity (rather than asking people to ‘fit in’) in staff and in curricula • Development of Black Studies; avoidance of London-centrism (in Black Studies) • Opportunities to be a visiting lecturer/professor/exchange/ examiner in UK – maintain connections: “those things would begin to pull you back” • Positively identify and encourage BME candidates and potential candidates (avoiding tokenism) – make an active effort; transparency in recruitment • Networking/mentoring/training

16. Questions arising • Are we achieving a greater understanding of the experiences of minority ethnic academics? • Do we have practical recommendations for easily achievable action on what would attract/retain minority ethnic academics? • Participant saturation: same people contribute to each research project. How do we capture the views of those not wanting to be labelled as BME? • What are the priority areas?