Equity in higher education

Find out how to ensure that all students and staff within higher education have an equal opportunity to succeed, regardless of individual challenges or varied educational backgrounds. Equity is about ensuring university support and policies enable everyone to flourish, taking into account the wide range of differing needs across a campus community, as these resources explain.

Students working as a group in the library

The library’s role in reducing the attainment gap

Read about strategies aimed at closing attainment gaps, such as peer mentoring, inclusive resources and academic skills training to support students

Multiple authors

Nottingham Trent University

Workforce-ready, not left behind: inclusive work-based learning for sciences students

Many science students miss out on quality placements because of systemic barriers. Read five ways universities can embed equitable, work-based learning into non-accredited programmes and level the field

Shalinee Dhayal, Dominic Wiredu Boakye, Musarrat Maisha Reza

The University of Exeter

A woman holds her head in her hands over a laptop screen

Be aware of the invisible baggage of poverty your students carry

We need to acknowledge the realities of poverty and inequality, and the trauma it leaves our students with. Here are six principles to make higher education more inclusive

Jordan Donnelly

University of the West of Scotland

Creating a visual story to demystify the university experience

Visual stories can help make universities’ complex array of services and experiences more accessible and less mysterious to staff, students and community members

Brooke Szücs, Ben Roden-Cohen

The University of Queensland

How inclusive design can transform student well-being: a spiritual perspective

Integrate the sacred into the secular by making interfaith spaces inclusive for all. Here’s how

Yusuf Kaplan

University of Westminster

An illustration of a group of people crossing a drawstring bridge from one head to another

To foster belonging, make a cultural shift

Here’s how to hone your EDI practices and make your university an anti-discriminatory institution

Denise Coles

Loughborough University

It’s time to break the extraction mindset of higher education

A logic of scarcity and competition leads academia to see hoarding economic, human and social resources as the only way to survive – as a university or a higher education employee, writes Lucas Lixinski

Lucas Lixinski

UNSW Sydney

‘Departmental orthodoxies silence dissent and chill scholarly enquiry’

Universities have not handled ongoing challenges around free speech, protest, academic freedom and safety well, writes John Hyman. Here he offers short- and long-term actions to promote secure, pluralistic campuses

John Hyman

UCL

‘We need to be united, confident and proud of who we are’: thoughts on the Supreme Court ruling

How can universities support gender-non-conforming members of their communities in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling on the definition of a woman?

Pippa Catterall

University of Westminster

Level the playing field for student apprentices with ILPs

Read advice on how to support student apprentices with independent learning plans, including guiding them through the off-the-job hours logging process

Joskaudė Pakalkaitė

The University of Exeter

A woman holding a megaphone while protesting

Faculty must stand together to confront the American illiberal peril

What happens now that university presidents are willing to stand up individually and collectively in the face of governmental hostility? Chris Dietrich examines the historical context leading up to it and suggests some ways to resist

Chris Dietrich

Fordham University

A lecturer standign at the front of class

Successful outreach requires an agile approach

Guidance on reviewing and refreshing an outreach offering to better support underrepresented groups into higher education

Laura Bates

Nottingham Trent University

What matters to students’ sense of belonging?

Using an intersectional and decolonial lens and fostering the formation of a discipline-specific identity are some of the ways to make belonging the cornerstone, rather than merely an outcome, of higher education EDI initiatives

Salma Al Arefi

University of Leeds

Unlocking minority students’ potential with an asset model approach

How can we tackle the gaps in attainment and outcomes between racialised ethnic minority and white students? This resource shares best practice based on running positive interventions for black and South Asian students

Hemisha Harji, Gemma Francis

Loughborough University

White privilege doesn’t exist for working-class men in higher education

Consider social class a protected characteristic and remove financial barriers to make HE accessible to white, working-class men, writes Mark Butterick

Mark Butterick

University of Leeds

Making admissions processes fair on Black students

How we can use alternative criteria and targeted outreach to promote fair access to higher education for Black students

Patrice Seuwou

University of Northampton

It’s time to embrace digital equity

Ensuring digital equity at your institution requires prioritising accessibility and championing digital literacy, among other initiatives

Kim Brooks, Jody Couch, Ben Tait

Dalhousie University

A jigsaw puzzle shaped like a head, brightly coloured blocks emitting from it

How to support neurodivergent postgraduate researchers

How can universities ensure PhD students of all neurotypes can thrive? Here’s how to provide neurodiversity-affirmative supervision

Deborah Riby , Amy Pearson, Jess Hirst

Durham University

Students walking through campus building

Rethinking online learning to tackle global injustices

A critical look at how online learning can be used to decolonise global development curricula

Sam Spiegel

The University of Edinburgh

A tutor helping her postgraduate students

How can we better support our postgraduate students?

The challenges postgraduate taught students face are different from those of their undergraduate counterparts. Here are some ways to help them overcome them

Ellen Bell, Kelly Edmunds

The University of East Anglia

Three lessons for interfaith engagement on campus

How can we build a religiously plural community on campus in times of global division? Ten years on from opening a university faith centre, James Walters reflects on three lessons learned

James Walters

The London School of Economics and Political Science

Female lecturer speaking to students at the front of class

Low-cost ways to support women academics

Offering mentorship opportunities, supporting peer groups and addressing bias are some of the ways institutions can support women academics

Asri Saraswati

The University of Indonesia

Structure of teepee against blue cloudy sky

Principles of Indigenous leadership and self-care in the academy

Indigenous leadership requires resilience, humility and self-awareness. These 10 principles offer a guide to cultivating wellness and fostering a supportive community

Chris Andersen

University of Alberta

A student standing outside campus thinking

How can we make HE more accessible for those with criminal convictions?

Students with criminal convictions are often left out of higher education widening participation efforts. This resource challenges the narrative and offers strategies to support them

Jayne Price, Paul Taylor

University of Chester

Co-creating PhD programmes for Black UK students offers a route to reparative justice

How to co-create, recruit and deliver PhD programmes for Black students: lessons from a scholarship and development programme aimed at diversifying doctorates

Heather Lambie

University of Glasgow

How we support accessible learning for students with disabilities

See how effective support, from the provision of counselling services, Autism Spectrum Disorder induction days and appropriate work experience opportunities, ensures students with a disability or long-term condition succeed during their studies and beyond

Conor Curran, Shauna McKeown, Will Plunkett

Queen’s University Belfast

Income should not determine outcomes for young musicians

If we accept the view that music education is only for the rich, it makes us complicit in stifling the life choices of talented artists, writes Jennie Henley

Jennie Henley

Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM)

Students holding their graduation caps in the air

Working with local authorities to support asylum seekers into HE

How institutions can partner with local authorities to provide English language support to asylum seekers and refugees who wish to pursue higher education

Gabrielle Smallbone

Kingston University

Members of the Network for Persons Affected by NTDs in Liberia.

Lessons for co-producing research with affected communities

Advice on meaningfully engaging with diverse communities to co-produce research, drawn from a project looking at treatment for neglected tropical diseases in Liberia

Rosalind McCollum

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Black students are succeeding in spite of academia, rather than because of it – we need a reset

The narrative that widening participation is enough is creating isolation and disillusionment among Black PhD students. How can universities move beyond it to empower Black academics?

William Ackah

Birkbeck, University of London

Research group member taking part in performance activities

The Verbatim Formula: using creative arts for collaborative research

Find out how performance practices can support participatory research centred around emotionally charged lived experiences

Sylvan Baker, Maggie Inchley

The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Queen Mary University of London

A group of people work around an office table

Embrace the potential of dyslexic thinkers for the future of research

Academia has made progress in recognising neurodiversity, but dyslexic academics still face significant barriers. Here’s how universities can embrace cultural competency to support and unlock the potential of dyslexic thinkers

Edward Ademolu

King’s College London

Student holding her books smiling to camera

Giving voice and taking action: equity-driven leadership

Ways for leaders of community colleges to encourage collective practices that advance equity and social justice for their institutions and the wider community

Pamela L. Eddy , Kim VanDerLinden

William & Mary, University at Buffalo

Female lecturer at her laptop smiling to camera

Enhance inclusivity by switching to a more equitable work allocation model

A new approach to academic work allocation at the University of Newcastle promotes an inclusive working environment

Nicole Bagnall

The University of Newcastle, Australia

A teacher giving a lecture to a diverse class full of students

Building equitable learning pathways in higher education

Higher education pathways that enable equitable opportunities for students to gain the required academic knowledge and skills for successful study are essential for widening participation

Anna Bennett

The University of Newcastle, Australia

A woman gives a talk to a room of people

How university leaders can hold firm on the glass cliff

In her book ‘Leading from the Margins’, Mary Dana Hinton considers the challenges facing the next generation of women and people of colour in leadership positions

Mary Dana Hinton

Hollins University

Campus talks: supporting student success at all stages of the university journey

University of Chester vice-chancellor Eunice Simmons talks about effective strategies for widening access and embedding equity in higher education

Eunice Simmons

University of Chester

Student father pushing a pram across the street

More needs to be done to normalise and support students with caring responsibilities in HE

Universities have a duty to ensure a robust system is in place to support a growing number of students with caring responsibilities

Michelle King-Okoye, Aigli Raouna, Joanna Alexjuk

The University of Edinburgh

Female construction worker surveying a building

Empower migrant and refugee women for career success

Creating educational opportunities tailored to the needs of refugee women equips them with the skills and confidence to pursue employment opportunities

Temitope Egbelakin

The University of Newcastle, Australia

‘What colour is your English?’ Linguistic racism’s impact on faculty of colour

Linguistic racism doesn’t just affect international students – it can hurt the mental health of staff too. Here’s how we can combat it

Sender Dovchin, Vander Tavares

Curtin University, Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences

Supporting parent academics through staff networks

The power of a combined voice can make working life easier for university faculty and staff with children. Here, Judith Lock lays out the challenges of mixing parenthood with academia and how networks lead to more family-friendly campuses

Judith Lock

University of Southampton

Equity without whiteness: what leaders get wrong in pursuit of an equitable campus

How can equity be advanced within a system that protects the status quo, and how can university leaders make a difference? Jordan Harper, Rozana Carducci and Adrianna Kezar examine how

Jordan Harper, Rozana Carducci, Adrianna Kezar

Morgan State University, Elon University, University of Southern California

University leaders attending a conference

University leaders must become entrepreneurs to address inequality

A university’s achievement should not always be measured by rank, facilities or number of graduates. The greater community appreciates institutions that take steps to provide equal access to education, writes Bhakti Eko Nugroho

Bhakti Eko Nugroho

The University of Indonesia

A yellow ball rolls out ahead of blue blocks

We can face the challenge of corporatisation by embracing subversive leadership

Educational developers must balance the corporatisation of higher education with providing transformative education. To do this, subversive leadership is the key, argues Richard McInnes

Richard McInnes

Adelaide University

Access and equity: the two most important aspects of applied learning

When designing applied learning experiences, remember to consider these two vital aspects. Muhammad Rahimi and Kenneth Keng Wee Ong offer their advice

Muhammad Rahimi, Kenneth Keng Wee Ong

Singapore Institute of Technology

‘Gender equality is more rewarding than just ticking a box’

A whole-culture change to dismantle structural barriers has included mentoring, promotions workshops, and childcare and family leave support. Here are reflections on 25 years of advancing gender equality at Queen’s University Belfast

Karen McCloskey

Queen’s University Belfast

The tough road to leadership as a woman in higher education

Representation matters, writes Marcheta Evans. Here, she offers advice for institutions and educators about the life lessons they need to pass to female scholars (and one for men, too)

Marcheta P. Evans

Montclair State University

A woman stands in front of a boardroom table, delivering a speech to colleagues

Women’s leadership is vital in the evolving landscape of higher education

The higher education sector is facing unprecedented changes since the pandemic, with technology evolving at a faster rate than ever. Becky Takeda-Tinker and Jenna Tarleton show that women can play a pivotal role in leading the way through this new normal

Becky Takeda-Tinker, Jenna Tarleton

Colorado State University Global

Improve women’s accessibility to leadership by following these steps

Weaving equity practices into talent and succession planning and creating roles that work alongside personal commitments are just two of the ways you can enhance the diversity of your leadership

Kim Brooks, Grace Jefferies-Aldridge

Dalhousie University

Empowering women leaders in fighting climate change: a call to action

Achieving gender balance goes beyond mere representation, writes Tahseen Jafry. Tackling the climate crisis necessitates a profound shift among the next generation of leaders towards gender-sensitive decision-making processes

Tahseen Jafry

Glasgow Caledonian University

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