Natasha Barrett, Union President, discusses why it is important to 'Liberate The Curriculum' and diversify education being run by Students' Unions.
28% of Royal Holloway undergraduates are non-white, meaning that roughly a third of our student population are BME students.
Despite this high proportion, 68% of RHUL BME students were awarded first class degrees or 2:1s in 2016 compared to 86% of white students. Marking an 18% attainment gap based on racial background.
It has also been confirmed that this gap is widening year on year.
So why does this gap exist?
To bring in some more statistics, a 2012 survey from the National Union of Students found that 42% of black students across the UK said the content of their course did not reflect their issues.
In addition, one in ten Trans students and one in four female students felt uncomfortable speaking up in class.
To suggest that feeling alienated from curricula and underrepresented does not impact on attainment and dropout rates would be avoiding an obvious connection - clearly there is a link here.
How can we change this?
RHSU are launching the ‘Liberate Our Curriculum’ campaign in solidarity with campaigns to diversify education being run by Students’ Unions across the UK.
Our goal is to raise awareness of this issue, speak out about it, encourage conversations on curriculum diversity and raise the voices of students who have personally experienced the effects of the current problem.
We want to begin working towards a long term goal of decolonising the way we think and creating an academic experience that is inclusive of all cultures, demographics, viewpoints and identities.
This way, every student should feel equally confident participating, be able to choose from a range of modules and courses that actively encourage inclusion and be able to relate to their course materials, ensuring that their do not feel invalidated due to background or identity and are able to succeed to the best of their true ability at university.
We already have support from the University and have begun to gather some extremely poignant feedback from the student body on their courses and learning experience. Our feedback surveys can be found below:
The deadline to complete the surveys is on Friday 3 November at 12pm. So make sure you give us your feedback by then as we are keen to know your opinions!
This work will continue throughout the year, look out for the web page launch and if you are keen to contribute your experiences or want to be involved and find out more, don't hesitate to email me.
Natasha Barrett
Union President