The University of Liverpool is to sign up to Advance HE’s Race Equality Charter (REC) with the explicit goal of eliminating any racial disparities for staff and students and achieving race equity on campus.
The REC helps universities to improve the representation, progression and success of minority ethnic staff and students within higher education, providing a framework through which institutions work to self-reflect on institutional and cultural barriers standing in the way of minority ethnic staff and students.
Vice-Chancellor, Professor Dame Janet Beer, said: “We still have a long way to go to tackle racial inequalities throughout our University community. Our attainment gap in good degree outcomes for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) students and the underrepresentation of BAME staff in senior posts at the University must be tackled, as must any cases of racism and discrimination on campus. These are nationwide issues but we have a collective responsibility to do better for our whole community.
“We are now taking a step further in our commitment to racial equality and are signing up to Advance HE’s Race Equality Charter with the goal of eliminating any racial disparities wherever we may find them.
“We, as an institution, are absolutely clear that racism and discrimination have no place in society and certainly no place on our campus. All our staff and students have the right to work and study in a positive, professional and safe environment. We are committed to supporting our students and staff to thrive against a background of respect for the experiences, abilities and skills of all individuals.”
The University has undertaken important work in recent years to meet our commitments to race equality, including the establishment of an Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) internal inquiry and working group to respond directly to the issues highlighted by the Commission’s report on racial harassment in Higher Education.
Other aspects of the University’s work around race equality include becoming a member of Universities Studying Slavery to explore our own legacies and signing the joint National Union of Students and Universities UK Closing the Gap pledge, which seeks to tackle the barriers to success faced by BAME students.
For more information please visit: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/hr/diversityandequality/race/