By Ailish Craig with support from Janet Kiri, Innocent Muwonge, Omolara Omotayo, Oreoulwa Fakeye, Shanice Simpson, Tina Nchang Awah, Yvonne Obeng Abakah, Julie Vullnetari, Booker Ogutu, Eleanor Wilkinson, Simon Hall, and Emma Palmer-Cooper.
In a room at the University of Southampton, a group of black students from the Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences (FELS) are sharing their experiences at the university.
‘I remember how during my first week here I was in a tutorial and a white student said that black people don’t do well in school and at uni because they all smoke cannabis. … My tutor did nothing. Absolutely nothing. She just stood there…I felt like her silence only emboldened him’.
This is just one example of a negative experience at university that had impacted their confidence and feeling of belonging within the university community. The main aim of this project within the University of Southampton was to understand why black students underperform at university compared to white students, a trend that is seen nationally. Similarly, black students are not taking on further study at postgraduate level, something called the ‘broken pipeline’.
Through focus group discussions we hoped to gain a deeper understanding of black students’ experiences within the Faculty, so that recommendations could be put forwards. The project hired black students from across the faculty as Junior Research Fellows (JRFs). The JRFs facilitated focus groups, recruited participants and helped write the final report. It is important to note that JRFs were paid and given a title in recognition of the time spent working on this project. Many equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) roles are unpaid, despite their importance in driving change within institutions, and the Faculty felt it important this was not the case in this instance. Participants included British and international students in the Faculty from all levels of study (undergraduate, Master’s and PhD) that were black or mixed-black.
The project identified three key findings: lack of representation, facing racism alone and the awarding gap/broken pipeline.
1. Lack of representation
Representation is important for students, and the lack of black staff members influences black students’ sense of belonging in the university and likelihood of seeking support or mentorship. Some students would like to speak with someone who is relatable to them, especially if they are seeking support because of racism or microaggressions. There were few, or no, black academic staff members in some schools that teach students. One student said they had ‘been at this university for three years and I didn’t even know that there were any black staff in the Psychology department… I wish I knew about her earlier’.
2. Facing racism alone
Racism and microaggression affected black students at the university and influenced their likelihood of staying for postgraduate study. Students perceived that the way some teaching staff and the university dealt with racism and microaggressions was at times ineffective, non-existent or unclear. As such, students felt alone and, during the focus groups, students said they enjoyed talking to others about their experience as it felt validating and less isolating.
Some black students were not aware of the university’s reporting system, while others had little trust in. In the case of microaggressions, students didn’t necessarily want to report these instances, but wanted to talk about it in a safe space with other black students or staff who could empathise with how they felt. The university had lost some students’ trust in the aftermath of a highly publicised incidence where a student was videoed chanting a racist slur. One student asked ‘why should I believe that they will do anything if I reported racism? Remember that bus incident?’.
3. The awarding gap and broken pipeline
The awarding gap and broken pipeline are linked to a lack of support resources, financial constraints and, as described by one student, the ‘pressure of being black’. Many black students are first generation university students and do not understand the university system or the opportunities and support it has to offer, and may also lack networks. In addition, students highlighted that having a supportive staff member was ‘a lottery’. Some students also had to work alongside their studies instead of being able to focus on their full-time education. This affects working class and first-generation university students of all ethnicities, but when combined with issues of representation and racism it is understandable how this affects black students’ grades and their aspirations for post-graduate study. Finally, the ‘pressure of being black’ stops students from seeking support from staff as they did not want to be perceived as a failing or struggling student and felt the pressure of representing black students in a positive light.
Recommendations
Based on the key findings, we outline recommendations for the Faculty to improve the black student experience, narrow the awarding gap, and ensure postgraduate study is achievable for those who would like to carry on with their studies.
Setting up the ‘Black in FELS’ student network
- Students shared that they had enjoyed networking and speaking about their experiences with other black students in the Faculty and would like to continue this. Faculty support and network advertisement is needed to continue this.
Train and support staff
- Ensuring staff are trained and supported to deal with issues of microaggressions and racism in the classroom is required. Additionally, supervisors and tutors should be made aware of the issues highlighted in this report, share good practise and enhance the support system for black students.
Postgraduate opportunities
- At the time of the project, the only Master’s scholarship available was financially small and achievement-based. Master’s scholarships that are focused on widening participation would encourage further study undertaken by underrepresented groups.
- Black Future Scholarship for black students to study for PhDs in the Faculty.
Improve representation
- Improve retainment pipelines of black students and provide black staff members with promotions and career development. This is likely to take time, so inviting black guest lecturers to give seminars, lectures and to speak at events can improve representation. Additionally, encouraging black PhD students to undertake teaching can inspire black students at lower levels of study.
- A curriculum review to ensure black students are represented in teaching of core modules is required. For example: decolonising geography; bias and ethnic differences in treatment within healthcare.
From this project there have been a number of successes and the approach to EDI and understanding experiences has resulted in actions. The ‘Black in FELS’ student network has now been running for two years with the financial support of the Faculty. The group offers support, networking, work experience opportunities and postgraduate advice.
Meanwhile there is now a new ’Postgraduate Taught Diversity Scholarship’ for FELS Master’s students from ethnic minority backgrounds. The project also informed two other projects that have adopted the same methodology: ‘Identifying barriers and facilitators affecting course success for mature students in FELS‘ and ‘Confident to talk: Removing barriers to reporting racist discrimination during placements in healthcare settings for ethnic minority students in FELS‘.
Although these are small steps, we hope the project has started a movement within the Faculty that results in an inclusive, nurturing and comfortable environment that all students can thrive in. The recommendations emerging this project might also be helpful for other academic institutions to learn from.
Extra information
This project was funded by the Faculty of Environmental and Life Sciences through the Latitude Prize Fund. Project included Junior Research Fellows: Janet Kiri, Innocent Muwonge, Omolara Omotayo, Oreoulwa Fakeye, Shanice Simpson, Tina Nchang Awah, Yvonne Obeng Abakah, Ailish Craig and staff members: Julie Vullnetari, Booker Ogutu, Eleanor Wilkinson, Simon Hall, Emma Palmer-Cooper.
The full report for this project can be found here: https://cdn-rgs-media-prod.azureedge.net/iaxocgrv/black-student-experiences-in-fels.pdf.
Suggested further reading
Holloway, S.L., Pimlott-Wilson, H. & Whewall, S. (2024) Geographies of supplementary education: Private tuition, classed and racialised parenting cultures, and the neoliberal educational playing field. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12666
Longley, P., Lan, T. & van Dijk, J. (2024) Geography, ethnicity, genealogy and inter-generational social inequality in Great Britain. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12622
How to cite
Craig, A. et al. (2024, November) Improving the black student experience at universities. Geography Directions. https://doi.org/10.55203/SCFC1953
Geography Directions 