What next for EDI? Protecting equality of opportunity in HE — from timeshighereducation.com by Laura Duckett
As equity, diversity and inclusion practices face mounting political and cultural challenges, this guide includes strategies from academics around the world on preserving fair access and opportunity for all
As many in this guide explain, hostility to efforts to create fairer, inclusive and diverse institutions of higher education runs a lot deeper than the latest US presidential agenda and it cannot be ignored and rejected as a momentary political spike. Yet the continued need for EDI (or DEI as it is called in America) work to address historic and systemic injustice is clear from the data. In the US, Black, Hispanic, Latino, Native American and Pacific Islander people are under-represented in university student and staff populations. Students from these groups also have worse academic outcomes.
In the UK, only 1 per cent of professors are Black, women remain under-represented on the higher rungs of the academic ladder and the attainment gap between students from minoritised backgrounds and their white counterparts remains stubbornly evident across the higher education sector.
While not all EDI work has proved successful, significant progress has been made on widening participation in higher education and building more inclusive universities in which students and academics can thrive.
This guide shares lessons from academics on navigating increasingly choppy waters relating to EDI, addressing misconceptions about the work and its core ambitions, strategies for allyship, anti-racism and inclusion and how to champion EDI through your teaching and institutional culture.