Important update on Race Equality Review
Monday, 07 December 2020
The following message was sent to all colleagues from Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Parveen Yaqoob, and Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, Dr. Allan Laville
Dear colleagues,
We are writing to you with an update about the Race Equality Review at the University.
Since we last spoke with you in late October, we have continued to build on the work associated with the review through stakeholder meetings based around the core themes of Representation, Student experience and attainment, Staff experience and promotion/advancement and Culture. These meetings have provided us with rich feedback and recommendations to consider. We have also reviewed the results of the Race Equality Survey that many of you contributed to and we are digesting the contents of the recently published Universities UK report on Tackling racial harassment in higher education.
All of this is important information that we need time to consider and build into our final report and its recommendations.
As you are aware, our original plan was to complete the report by the end of this year. However, managing cases of COVID-19 throughout the term, a second national lockdown and mass COVID-19 testing have resulted in significant additional workload to ensure that our colleagues and students stay safe and are able to have a well-deserved break over the Christmas period.
This review is very important for our future as a diverse and inclusive University and we do not wish to rush any aspect of it. Many colleagues have given us their time, shared their experiences - often difficult experiences - and given us much to think about in terms of the type of institution we all wish to be part of.
We understand the responsibility this places on us, and have been granted an extension to the publication of the final report.
The Race Equality Review will now be published in the spring term. We are planning to share a draft version with the Race Equality Action Team (RE-ACT) and the BAME Staff Network for consultation before presenting it to the University Executive Board (UEB) in March 2021. The final report will be published soon after.
We will be sharing more information at the Vice-Chancellor's next all-staff briefing session on 17 December, 14:00-15:00., and look forward to seeing you there.
Parveen Yaqoob and Allan Laville