HERAG Meeting 15 October 2015 Leadership Foundation and ECU BME Leadership summit: update (LFHE) Dr Diane Bebbington, Diversity Advisor Leadership Foundation for Higher Education
Today Ø Ø Ø Background to the event Outputs and methodology Key themes that emerged Next steps Discussion 02
BME Leadership Summit in Higher Education, 10 June 2015, Asia House, London Welcome to the event - why are we here today? Alison Johns, CEO, Leadership Foundation and David Ruebain, CEO, ECU Chair’s perspective and scene setting Chair: Ranjit Sondhi, Lay Member, Birmingham University Context piece – what do we know? Gary Loke, Head of Policy, ECU How can we make not break BME leaders? Gurnam Singh and Josephine Kwhali, Coventry University World Café Table discussions (practical focus) Reflections and closing comments Chair: Ranjit Sondhi, Birmingham University Where do we go from here? Alison Johns and David Ruebain 03
Stimulus papers and Leadership Insights Bhopal, K. (2014) The experience of BME academics in higher education: aspirations in the face of inequality. Stimulus paper. London: Leadership Foundation for Higher Education. Morrow, E. (2015) Why does ethnicity matter in higher education leadership? Leadership Insights. London: Leadership Foundation for Higher Education. Singh, G. and Kwhali, J. (2015) How can we make not break black and minority ethnic leaders in higher education? Stimulus paper. London: Leadership Foundation for Higher Education. 04
Methodology Ø 10 sets of notes from workshop groups and plenary sessions Ø Read each of set notes and developed a coding frame Ø Reread notes and organised the quotes verbatim under headings Ø All output placed under the headings Ø Omitted very general quotations or those that were difficult to understand. Ø 21 overarching themes identified in total 05
Key themes (1) Ø Ø Ø Initiatives (or lack of initiatives) to tackle racism at institutional level Leadership and leadership development for senior staff Recruitment, retention and progression/BME staff development Organisational/institutional culture Globalisation/internationalisation Language Black Leadership Measuring progress BME staff networks Boards Other initiatives to learn from 06
Key themes (2) Ø Ø Ø Ø Ø Role and research-specific issues Stakeholders White privilege/engaging with white leaders Psychological/emotional effects Intersectionality Academic committees The business case Curriculum Non-BME people 07
Initiatives (or lack of initiatives) to tackle racism at institutional level Ø ‘How policies are interpreted and applied is important, plays a huge part in shaping culture but is often overlooked since it is complicated and difficult to manage. On paper many institutions policies and processes relating to equality and diversity issues are good but issues arise when they are interpreted and applied’. Ø ‘Just focusing on the BME staff themselves will not change the institution. Any programme to be successful needs to involve a range of interventions which target different groups, processes and individuals and aim to change cultures and perceptions as well as increase numbers. Systemic approach’. 08
Leadership and leadership development for senior staff Ø ‘The issue of lack of cultural understanding within the leadership team/senior management needs to be addressed. One approach could be developing unconscious bias training for senior leadership teams’ Ø ‘The E&D practitioners involved in the discussion explained that reports like this are often just forwarded from the VC’s office for them to deal with. They would like to see VCs becoming more engaged in this agenda, rather than thinking it is just for the E&D team to do. Participants spoke of their frustration that there were not VCs in attendance at the Summit. Participants would like to see more being done than just sending VCs copies of the report’. 09
Recruitment, retention and progression/BME staff development Ø ‘Recruitment issues: some participants noted that it’s not only an issue about progression through academia and BME flight, there is actually a problem with BME academics getting a job in the first place’. Ø ‘Participants want to see universities monitoring the whole recruitment process How many people apply? How many get shortlisted? Interviewed? ’ Ø ‘Participants shared anecdotal stories of participating in recruitment panels and BME applicants not succeeding – with concerns that this decision was not fair and that bias (unconscious and/or conscious) may be an issue’. 10
Organisational/institutional culture Ø ‘The development approach (staff mentoring etc. ), while useful for some staff - by itself will not lead to change since the main issue lies in the institutional culture which is Euro-centred (not culturally democratic) and further that unequal power relations must be addressed to tackle power and privilege (that largely benefits white middle and upper class males, and to a lesser degree white females). This needs to happen to create the conditions in which all staff are competing for progression on a level playing field’. Ø ‘We aren’t fighting for inclusion as we are already here. Achieving meaningful progress requires institutional introspection about the kind of leadership we are coming into. Can we shape and change this leadership? ’. 11
Globalisation/internationalisation Ø ‘One participant highlighted that he was tired of the BME label. He considers himself a global citizen. The group discussed the fact that BME staff networks don’t involve international staff, despite the fact that they can face a number of the same challenges as BME staff’. Ø ‘Is it more meaningful to consider BME staff as global citizens, with international ties, who can contribute much of value in the era of the internationalization of universities? This led to a discussion about how there could be a very valuable connection between advancing equality for BME academics and the internationalization agenda. How can we piggy-back on the internationalization agenda? ’. 12
THANK YOU! 13
