Black and minority ethnic staff  (BME) within UK universities have shown to be discriminated against for their ethnicity. Statistically, academic staff from BME backgrounds are paid less than their white equivalents. BME staff are also severely under represented in the highest academic positions, such as professorships.

A study by the University and College Union found that BME staff are paid 9% less than their white colleagues and black academic staff are paid 14% less.

BME staff also face barriers in their job prospects within academic hierarchies due to their ethnic origin. The study conducted by UCU shows that within the UK higher education sector only 93% of university professors are white, with only 7% from BME backgrounds.

Professor Kalwant Bhopal, the deputy director of the Centre for Research in Race and Education at the University of Birmingham told The Guardian that ‘These findings are very depressing. They are not new but should be a wake-up call for universities.’ 

Robbie Lee, a Political Science student at UoB, told Redbrick that ‘In my opinion, there is a vicious cycle within institutions whereby there seems to be a culture in which departments recruit on the premise of mirroring their image. The issue with this lack of diversity is that it can stagnate perspectives and understandings of realities external to their own upbringing or privileged background. This affects decisions on how we learn, such as the literature we are exposed to, but also the student environment and how it inclusive it may or may not be’.

The issue of ethnic inequality is also prevalent in the experiences of BME students in universities. A recent report into racism at Goldsmith’s University found that 26% of BME students at the university had experienced racism, including in the form of derogatory slurs.