Staffordshire University has been appointed by TASO to map current approaches to tackle the ethnicity degree awarding gap in the higher education (HE) sector.

The purpose of the project is to produce a typology of interventions, enabling us to better understand:

  • The current landscape in terms of approaches to closing the ethnicity degree awarding gap
  • The specific interventions that HE providers are currently delivering to reduce the ethnicity degree awarding gap
  • Approaches to evaluation, including whether there is a Theory of Change to link interventions with reducing the degree awarding gap, the extent to which interventions have been evaluated, and the quality of this evaluation

“The ethnicity degree awarding gap is a complex problem that HE providers across the sector are trying to understand and address, which is what makes this project so important. We are excited to develop a landscape of these approaches that will support TASO’s future work in growing and sharing evidence on what works to eliminate these gaps in degree awards.”

Dr Sally Andrews, Project Lead at Staffordshire University

The project will involve three distinct phases:

  • Review of Access and Participation Plans (APPs), HE provider websites and submissions to the Race Equality Charter to produce the initial typology.
  • Stakeholder interviews and focus groups to gain further understanding of institutional infrastructure, attitudes, and approaches.
  • Refinement of the typology and key themes by an Expert Reference Group, set up as part of the project.

This ethnicity degree awarding gap refers to the significant difference in the proportions of Black, Asian and minority ethnic students being awarded a first or upper-second class undergraduate degree when compared to White students.

Findings from this project will provide a foundation for TASO’s future work in this area in supporting better evaluation and an understanding of what works.

The project will end in Spring  2023, with the typology and accompanying report expected to launch in the Spring/Summer.