Race equality

Zero tolerance to racial discrimination and harassment

Our commitment to upholding a safe, inclusive and respectful environment for everyone in our community permeates everything we do, and we are collectively responsible for making sure it happens. When it does not, and where behaviour contradicts these values, we take a zero-tolerance approach.

#NeverOK pulls together all of the work we are already doing, and planning, to further this crucial agenda. Any form of harassment, abuse, sexual misconduct or discrimination is #NeverOK.

Colleagues, students and visitors have a right to be treated with dignity and respect at all times. The role we each play in making this happen cannot be overstated as #NeverOK is, and has to be a whole-university approach – it comes down to each of us living these values and getting involved where we can or need to.

The university is committed to meeting and exceeding the expectations set out in the recent Office for Students publication: Statement of Expectations for Preventing and Addressing Harassment and Sexual Misconduct (pdf), but more importantly, making a positive university-wide impact. A cohesive and strategic approach led from the top is an essential element of achieving our objectives in this area.

We have therefore, established an Oversight Group, which brings together key stakeholders from across the university to monitor and review the existing approaches and data. The group will also consider and lead on new initiatives and responding quickly to emerging issues. The scope of this group considers all forms of harassment and scenarios involving our community.

Reporting racial discrimination and harassment

The university takes allegations of racial discrimination and harassment extremely seriously and the measures in place to report and investigate such incidents have been reviewed and clarified.

The bullying, harassment and victimisation policy and procedures for staff have been revised to give staff and students the confidence to report incidents, especially when they may have done so previously and not had the outcome they'd hoped for.

Students can now disclose an incident by completing an online disclosure form – both in person and anonymously. Trained staff review the disclosures and where students have shared their detail, will practical support, signpost individuals to specialist services, explain the student’s options for making a formal report or complaint, and support them with managing their safety.

The tool allows staff to disclose incidents of bullying and harassment which they have experienced, or which they have observed.

Members of the public wishing to report an incident involving a university student or member of staff should contact the university at communityrelations@brighton.ac.uk.

Remit of the report

The University of Brighton abhors racism in all its forms, including antisemitism. We are committed to providing a safe environment for our diverse community of students and staff from within the UK and from a range of international backgrounds who equally observe a range of faiths and none.

Our Race and Faith Commission was established in early 2021 following discussions about the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. Its remit was to explore and make recommendations to the university to further enhance the equal treatment and protection from harassment of our staff and students.

It was also asked to make recommendations on promoting racial and faith equal treatment under the following headings:

1. The promotion of understanding and a positive dialogue between people of all faiths and none.
2. The status and potential contribution of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism and any other definitions relevant to an understanding of racism.
3. The mechanisms for acting effectively against harassment of all forms and providing support.
4. Governance and accountability structures to embed electronic data interchange (EDI) in the practice and operation of all parts of the university.
5. The role, focus and governance of staff and student networks.
6. The legal position and operation of the university’s obligations to uphold freedom of speech and academic freedom.

The commission spent many hours reading and listening to a wide range of contributions including important external perspectives, publications and legal opinions. Critically, they were able to hear the views of our staff and students and their own personal experiences.

Recommendations and progress

The recommendations made by the commission will help us in our vital work to become an anti-racist organisation and support and encourage those who experience harassment or racism to come forward, confident in how they will be supported.

You can read the full report and the Commission's recommendations (pdf), which set out a range of practical ways, beyond our statements of commitment, that can further support our work.

In response to the report, the university has established a task and finish group chaired by the Vice-Chancellor and comprising staff and students to respond to the recommendations. The group has met fortnightly starting in September 2021 and considerable progress has already been made against each of the recommendations.

You can read the group's mid-point progress update (pdf) to find out more about the work under way.

IHRA working definition

Having carefully considered the IHRA working definition, the commission recommended that the university should not adopt it.

We recognise that this is a contentious matter, with differing perspectives on whether or not it should be adopted. A full explanation for the decision can be found in the commission’s report, including for example the opinion that the appropriate legal tools already exist, such as those in the Equality Act, and that these should be deployed as necessary.

The commission has noted that if the law or Office for Students regulation changes that the university should once again review the position.

What does it mean?

Decolonising is a complex and ongoing process, which is strongly connected to the University of Brighton’s commitment to anti-racism. It begins with recognising the impact that British and Western European colonial history has had on shaping the curriculum, teaching and structures of the university. Empowering students and staff to work together to achieve this is a key part of our strategy to create an inclusive learning and teaching environment for everyone.

To create a truly inclusive curriculum, it is important that we take this action to diversify and decolonise. It is an ongoing process which will require continuous reflection and adaption, as we learn more and as the diversity of our student community shifts.

To diversify the curriculum, we include a broader representation of voices, examples, topics, identities and communities, ensuring, where relevant to the subject, that representations are positive and not drawing on racist stereotypes.

To decolonise, we reflect on content in our curricula, questioning the weight given to historically dominant voices and making space to amplify those who have previously been silenced. We disrupt thinking within our disciplines that is canonical and Eurocentric, questioning established representations that set expectations of who can and who can’t be included within our subject spaces.

Decolonising the Curriculum

This twice-yearly cross-disciplinary publication offers staff and students the opportunity to reflect on practice and experience and to showcase initiatives.

Download it here (pdf):

• Issue 1
• Issue 2
• Issue 3

Collaborating with students

The Inclusive Practice Partnerships (IPP) scheme aims to create a collaborative student-staff partnership that is focused on developing an inclusive, decolonised and diversified curriculum.

Students are able to apply to become Inclusive Practice Partners. They are paid for their time and have the opportunity to develop their interest in equality and diversity and their skills in collaborative working. They work with academic staff in their school as well as other IPPs, and are involved in activities such as reviewing curriculum content, developing resources on decolonising learning and teaching in their subject area and sharing the outcomes of their work.

The benefits of the programme include:

• Having a student perspective on curriculum design, content and delivery.
• Creating an inclusive curriculum.
• Creating new and diverse resources available for use in different subject areas.
• Creating a sense of belonging for students through the co-design of curricula and co-creation of resources with students and staff.
• Encouraging collaborative exchange between students and staff at university, within school and inter-school.
• Providing valuable training for students to develop transferable skills such as public speaking, facilitating groups and mentoring as well as supporting career development.
• Increased engagement from students in potential postgraduate study and further research.

Find out more about decolonising the curriculum

For more on the work being initiated by schools, follow these blogs:

• DeCol - Decolonising the Curriculum Student-Staff Collective
• Crossing Cultures

Our approach 

In line with much of the Higher Education sector, at the University of Brighton there is a gap in the proportional number of 1st and 2:1 degrees awarded to students from Minority Ethnic backgrounds when compared to students from White backgrounds. We see the language of an ‘attainment gap’ is a negative student deficit term that suggests that the students are not achieving, rather than recognising that it is a ‘degree awarding’ gap which is of the sector/institution’s creation.

We are taking a whole-institution approach to addressing the differential experience and outcomes. Our intention is to change our culture rather than problematising the students.

In a targeted programme of activity, we aim to address the differential outcomes and experience of our Minority Ethnic students through three areas of work: developing staff; supporting students; and data and process. The approach is underpinned by the Universities UK/National Union of Students #ClosingTheGap framework (pdf) published in May 2019.

Developing staff 

Student insight

Focus groups were held across the schools and professional service departments to understand more about the experiences of our Minority Ethnic students. The outcomes from the focus groups were formed into staff development workshops to enable colleagues to reflect on the experiences of their students and plan local level actions to improve the experiences of the students.

Speaker series

These started in the winter 2019, inviting external speakers from within HE and from the Minority Ethnic community to share their insights into the issues around the student experience and for staff to discuss issues related to Race and Ethnicity (as recommended in the ClosingTheGap Framework). Most recently we have welcomed colleagues from within the institution to raise awareness of issues impacting on the experience of Minority Ethnic students.

Inclusive practice resources

These have been completely redesigned and take into account Inclusive Practice in its widest definition and focus around pedagogies which develop a sense of belonging for all students. These resources support the implementation of the Learning and Teaching Inclusive Practice and Accessibility Policy and were further updated for COVID-19.

Digitally enabled learning resources

Resources developed by the Learning and Teaching Hub also include resources for Minority Ethnic students during the COVID-19 pandemic, drawing on the work of Dr Gurnam Singh from the University of Coventry who has been leading the sector in considering Minority Ethnic students’ experiences.

Supporting students 

Mentoring

The Identity Mentoring Match programme enables Minority Ethnic students to get support from a mentor who has experience of living or working in the local community.

It is available to students from all subjects areas. Before the COVID-19 lockdown 45 students were paired with a mentor under the scheme. During the lockdown a further 27 students were paired with mentors to develop the mentoring relationship remotely, a further cohort is currently being rolled out with remote mentors coming from across the country.

In 2019–2020 Brighton Business School led the Schools of Media, Environment and Technology, Education, and Sport and Service Management in a project to develop the confidence of Minority Ethnic students through developing their pre-professional identities.

Minority Ethnic alumni as role models.

Data and process 

Anonymous marking

This has been fully implemented where the assessment type allows.

School targets

Key performance indicators have been established this year, which include five year targets for closing the Minority Ethnic degree awarding gap.

Learning and Teaching Inclusive Practice and Accessibility Policy 

The policy was created to support the strategic commitment to inclusivity and accessibility for all students. The focus is on:

• designing and developing inclusive courses and modules
• delivering accessible and inclusive learning and teaching experiences
• creating inclusive assessments.

A key aspect of the policy and its implementation is the requirement to consider decolonisation and diversifying the curriculum at the point of approval. This is achieved through the Inclusive Practice Partners scheme.

Identity Mentoring Match

This is an identity match programme that aims to match students and mentors affiliated by their skin colour, background heritage or a shared experience of being racialised. It offers an opportunity for students to get support from a professional person who has experience of living or working in the local community.

Each student is paired with a mentor for six months. During this time, students and their mentors meet regularly to have confidential discussions about relevant issues, exchange ideas and information, allowing the student to develop confidence, new skills and enhance their career prospects.

Full training is given to both mentors and mentees so that everyone can benefit as much as possible from the process.

Students taking part in the Identity Mentoring Match programme:

• have the opportunity to meet with a mentor who lives or works locally and discuss issues in confidence
• get a boost in confidence and wellbeing to achieve in your course and focus your career plans
• gain insight into the local community.

Student societies 

Brighton Students' Union support a range of student-led societies, including several culture and faith based societies.

The African Caribbean Student Society, the Asian Society, and the Chinese Society are just a few of the societies students can currently join. Student societies hold a range of social activities and events for students throughout the year.

Local community 

The local area has a vibrant community sector with community organisations which can support and connect staff and students of colour to people with shared experiences locally.

These include:

• Black and Minority Ethnic Community Partnership
• MOSAIC.

Brighton Anti-Racist Network 

Brighton Anti-Racist Network aims to provide a safe space to understand how racism works within an institution and recommend meaningful solutions. It is open to staff and research students of any race and faith.

The network’s key priorities are:

• Providing staff and research students with peer-to-peer support and networking opportunities to overcome the impact of racially motivated negative discrimination
• Informing and influencing university policy and planning relating to equality, diversity and inclusion
• Planning activities and events that contribute to the development of an anti-racist culture.

Staff mentoring 

Staff mentoring has been introduced across the university to support our staff of colour. The aim of the university’s mentoring scheme is designed to help staff across the institution to challenge barriers and to empower them to realise their personal potential. Through making mentoring partnerships, the scheme will:

• provide greater support for individuals looking to develop themselves
• help staff make connections across the university, breaking down silos, sharing knowledge and expertise and broadening outlooks.

Mentoring scheme

Find out more about our mentoring scheme including how to register as a mentor or mentee.

Local community

The local area has a vibrant community sector with community organisations which can support and connect staff and students of colour to people with shared experiences locally.

These include:

• Black and Minority Ethnic Community Partnership
• MOSAIC.