Living Black at University 4 Living Black at University 5 Richard Smith Chief Executive Unite Students This report makes for very uncomfortable reading at times, but that makes it even more vital that everyone providing student accommodation commits to action. It is now so widely accepted that higher education institutions need urgently to address prejudice on campus that even their own formal representative body has called for action. Universities UK have said they want to tackle ‘the institutional racism and systemic issues that pervade the entire higher education sector’. 1 There has sometimes been a common tendency among those of us working in higher education to assume our sector is more progressive, more enlightened and more welcoming than other parts of UK national life. In fact, universities are generally a microcosm of the society in which they sit and, as such, they are likely to contain that society’s flaws. Recent success in widening participation to higher education is perhaps nowhere more clear than among Black pupils: between 2006 and 2020, Black pupils had the biggest entry rate increase of all ethnic groups, up from 21.6% to 47.5%. 2 So what is the problem? There are two big ones. First, the opportunities are not equally distributed: for example, just 5% of Black Caribbean pupils progress to high-tariff institutions, which is under half the national figure of 10.9%. 3 Secondly, after entry, Black pupils are more likely to be left behind: Black students outside those higher tariff providers have the lowest continuation rates of any ethnic group. 4 It seems they are getting in but they are not getting on, at least not as often as other students. The question which we must address is: how can we tackle these challenges quickly and effectively? On the teaching side, one way is by diversifying the curriculum. 5 Moreover, schemes like Advance HE’s Race Equality Charter award are beginning to make a difference for students and staff. 6 But the impact of racism on the non-academic aspects of student life has been largely ignored. That is why this new report is so vitally important. Where you live, who you live with and how safe you feel in your accommodation are crucial to student success. Anyone who looks back on their own time at university knows this almost instinctively. No one can perform at their highest level if their accommodation while studying doesn’t truly feel like a home. As the following pages make clear, things that are often forgotten about in higher education can be very important to someone’s quality of life, such as appearance (including the availability of the right hair care) and diet (such as access to certain foods). 1.1 SETTING THE CONTEXT 1 Universities UK, Tackling racial harassment in higher education , November 2020, p.4 2 Department for Education, Entry rates into higher education , 16 February 2021 3 Department for Education, Widening participation in higher education , 14 October 2021 4 Office for Students, New OfS analysis examines differences in higher education access and continuation between different groups of students , 16 December 2021 5 Mia Liyanage, Miseducation: decolonising curricula, culture and pedagogy in UK universities , HEPI Debate Paper 23, July 2020 6 Kalwant Bhopal, ‘Race matters: Addressing competing inequalities in higher education’, in Hugo Dale-Rivas (ed.), The white elephant in the room: ideas for reducing racial inequalities in higher education , September 2019, p.11-16 Some of the recommendations can only be addressed in partnership, and we have been overwhelmed by the response from universities and sector bodies even prior to the completion of the final report. There have already been promising conversations about building some of the recommendations into codes and standards, and being proactive in ensuring that Black students understand their right to escalate complaints if not resolved. We are committed to facilitating these conversations further and lending our support to subsequent actions. For universities, I hope this research will help to extend Universities UK’s excellent work on tackling racial harassment into students’ living space, with a genuine contribution to knowledge and actionable recommendations. We are already working with Newcastle University to support their own work towards Advance HE’s Race Equality Charter award, drawing on the draft findings of this research. For private accommodation providers, I hope it will be a learning experience for you as it was for me, and a practical support to your EDI strategies. It is important that we take every opportunity to work together as a sector on this important issue. But above all, this report is a commitment to Black students to make student accommodation a more safe, inclusive and welcoming home for you, creating room for everyone to thrive at university. “ Nick Hillman