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Race Equality Policy

The first version of the Race Equality Policy together with a Race Equality Scheme for staff was approved by the Board of Governors May 2002. This revised version of the policy was approved by the Senate and Board of Governors in July 2003.

This scheme was reviewed by consultants in 2006, but it was not considered necessary to revise it. However, a new action plan covering 2006-7 to 2008-9 is now attached as Annex 1.

Comments on the revised policy are invited and should be submitted to Sally Westney, Pro-Vice-Chancellor responsible for student matters. She can be contacted by clicking here.

FOREWORD

In his report on the investigation of the murder of Stephen Lawrence, Lord MacPherson offered the following definitions of racism and institutional racism:

Racism: consists of conduct or words or practices which disadvantage or advantage people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin. He noted that in its more subtle form it is as damaging as in its overt form.

Institutional Racism: is the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour, which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people.

The report went on to argue that institutional racism persists because of the collective failure of an organisation openly and adequately to recognise its existence and causes by policy, example and leadership. Without recognition and action to eliminate such racism it can prevail as part of the ethos or culture of the organisation. It is a corrosive disease.

At Birmingham City University we are committed to ensuring that we maintain an institutional culture which fosters equality and celebrates diversity and promotes these values externally. Our Race Equality Policy and Action Plan shows how this commitment is put into practice.

David Tidmarsh
Vice-Chancellor

RACE EQUALITY POLICY

1. Introduction

This paper sets out the University's revised Race Equality Policy (2003). It should be read in conjunction with the supporting action plan which is attached at Annex 1.

The policy explains how the University will satisfy its responsibilities under the Race Relations Act 1976 as amended by the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. It also confirms the University's commitment to use best practice identified by the Commission for Racial Equality and good practice developed within the University and elsewhere, to maintain an institutional culture which fosters equality and celebrates diversity and to promote these values externally. In this way we will meet our obligations to promote good race relations between people of different racial groups.

2. Background

The Race Relations Act (1976) outlaws racial discrimination and provides individuals with the right to seek legal redress for acts of discrimination. The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 (the Act) places new duties on public authorities with regard to race relations matters (see paragraph 4 below). Among these duties is the requirement to establish and maintain a Race Equality Policy. The University's first policy was approved by the Board of Governors in May 2002 together with an Employee Race Equality Scheme. For ease of dissemination, the requirements of that scheme have been incorporated within this revised Race Equality Policy and the action the University planned to take to support the scheme has also been incorporated in Annex 1.

This revised version of the policy was developed during 2002/03 and will be submitted to the Board of Governors for approval in July 2003. It will be reviewed again in 2008, or earlier if this is deemed necessary, in the light of advice from staff and students, information derived from the University's monitoring of the policy and action plan, and advice from bodies such as the Commission for Racial Equality.

The revised policy and action plan have been developed by a group of senior staff and representatives of the Union of Students following wide consultation within the University. This group includes representatives with responsibility for implementing the action plan and with key responsibilities in terms of maintaining commitment to and promotion of a proactive approach to racial equality and good race relations and also in tackling racial discrimination. The group also includes staff with responsibility for ensuring that the policy is implemented at faculty level and within service departments. Their work has been co-ordinated by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor responsible for academic matters and Personnel.

3. Institutional Context and Values

Birmingham is the UK's second largest city. At the time of the 2001 census it had a population of 977,100. It is racially and culturally very diverse. The census indicated that black and minority ethnic people made up 30% of the City's population and that Birmingham has more people aged under 16 than over 59, which is the reverse of the national picture.

Birmingham City University is a multi-racial institution. Students are recruited from all the ethnic classifications used for the 2001 census (see Annex 2: Student Statistics - this is a Acrobat PDF document see the link on the right if you require a reader for PDFs).

The University's Statement of Educational Character and Mission (Annex 3) sets out the values we wish to promote. This statement informs the development of all of the University's policies and procedures and its strategic planning. The values expressed in the statement are represented in the University's Equal Opportunities Statement (Annex 4). They confirm our commitment to widen access to higher education and to maintaining and strengthening our services to local and regional communities.

The University has nine constituent faculties which together offer over 750 programmes, many of which are vocational leading to professional registration or a licence to practise. The faculties are responsible for implementing the University's Equal Opportunities Statement, therefore they are required to ensure that their operational processes meet these obligations. Their practices reflect the traditions of their particular disciplines and the requirements of the professional bodies with which they are associated. This experience has been used to review the University's Equal Opportunities Statement during 2002/03 and to share good practice across the institution. It has also been used to identify the functions deemed most relevant to achievement of the aims of the Race Equality Policy (see paragraph 7 below).

The University welcomes applications from all groups in the community. Although many of our students live locally, a significant number of our programmes also recruit nationally and internationally. The number of international students is likely to increase over the next few years and the University will continue to develop its support systems for these students.

As Annex 2 illustrates, the University is very successful in recruiting students from black and minority ethnic groups. Nevertheless, we would like to improve this position further over the next few years, particularly in subject areas where recruitment of students from these groups has proved more challenging. To achieve this aim many activities are undertaken at institutional and faculty level to widen participation. Some of these activities concentrate on particular groups, for example Muslim women, if the University has identified a need to encourage recruitment from a particularly under-represented group. Others such as mentoring schemes, liaison schemes with sixth form students etc, are geared to raising awareness of the possibilities of higher education for all under-represented groups. Through these links we seek to promote mutual understanding between the University and the communities we serve.

The University is one of the ten largest employers in Birmingham and as such recognizes its responsibility to ensure equality of opportunity and to promote good relations between people of different racial groups. The action plan also outlines the measures in place to encourage further the recruitment of staff from black and ethnic minority groups.

As part of its mission to widen participation the University enjoys partnerships with a range of local and regional bodies and organisations. These partnerships vary from relationships with local schools, sixth form colleges and FE colleges (some of the latter offer programmes which lead to awards of the University) to other public bodies and businesses of all sizes with which we undertake a range of collaborative activities. The University recognizes that it has an important role to play in proactively promoting good relations between people of different racial groups and as such is active on bodies such as the Birmingham Race Action Partnership, and works closely with partners in the National Health Service, the local and regional business community, Birmingham City Council and the Chamber of Commerce. We are also members of Race for Equality from Business in the Community . Staff of the University work closely with employers' representatives, professional bodies, associations, placement providers and with schools to encourage the recruitment of black and ethnic minority students to vocational programmes in professional areas which have not recruited well from these groups in the past.

Respect for cultural diversity is seen as imperative to the promotion of good race relations. Wherever possible the University seeks to target its resources to meet the needs of the different communities it serves, for example, prayer facilities are available at several sites for Muslim staff and students. A number of initiatives have also been developed to assist different communities in more unusual ways, one such is the provision of training events for Imams who wish to assist Muslims serving jail sentences in UK prisons.

4. Duties under the Act

The Act places a general duty on the University to establish and maintain a Race Equality Policy, to eliminate racial discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity and good relations between people of different racial groups. In addition, the Act lays specific duties upon the University to:

• assess the impact of its policies on staff and students from different racial groups and to publish the results of its assessments;
• monitor the admission and progress of students and the recruitment and career development of staff by racial group;
• set out arrangements for publishing the policy and the results of the assessments and monitoring and publish these annually.

Through the achievement of these specific duties the University will be able to demonstrate its achievement of the general duty.

A 'racial group' is defined in the Act as a group of people defined by colour, ethnicity, race, nationality, nation or ethnic origin.

The policy and action plan explain how the University intends to address these duties and to ensure that the principle and spirit of racial equality is incorporated within the University's policies and procedures where relevant.

5. The Policy

In conjunction with the University's Equal Opportunities Statement the aims of the Race Equality Policy are to:

• ensure that all students and staff are encouraged and supported to achieve their full potential;
• assist in the identification of possible barriers to equality of opportunity for students and staff and to ensure that these barriers are addressed where possible;
• increase the participation of black and minority ethnic people in higher education;
• achieve a workforce that reflects the ethnic diversity of the relevant wider population and of the communities we serve;
• prevent direct and indirect, overt and covert discrimination on grounds of race;
• provide an environment which respects and values diversity and shows consideration for the traditions, cultures and religious practices of people from different racial groups;
• reinforce the centrality of the Race Equality Policy to the University's processes for strategic planning and policy development and implementation;
• ensure that where necessary the University's regulations and procedures are used to challenge and deal appropriately with racial discrimination, racist behaviour, racist language or harassment;
• continue to develop systems and procedures for the collection and use of monitoring data about staff and students and to use this information to develop our services for students and staff;
• to identify the functions, and the activities which contribute to the delivery of those functions, which are most relevant to the achievement of our duties under the Act and to set out priorities for assessing and monitoring the delivery of these functions;
• review progress against the action plan together with the results of the monitoring and to report on the outcomes of this exercise annually;
• amend institutional policies and procedures where impact assessments, the outcomes of monitoring or other information identify a need for change to avoid racial discrimination or potentially discriminatory practice or adverse impact;
• develop additional guidance for governors, and training for staff and student representatives in order to support the implementation of the Race Equality Policy, to promote best practice and to ensure understanding of the University's legal obligations under the Act.

6. Roles and Responsibilities

Board of Governors

It is the responsibility of the Board of Governors to ensure that the University complies with the Act. The Board is also required to ensure that the policy and the action plan are implemented and reviewed regularly. The Board will receive an annual summary of the outcomes of monitoring and any changes to policies and procedures arising from that monitoring.

The Personnel and Remuneration Committee of the Board of Governors has specific responsibility for determining and monitoring the policy in relation to staff and for ensuring that key issues are drawn to the attention of the Board of Governors. To discharge this responsibility effectively the Personnel and Remuneration Committee receives regular and detailed reports on matters related to race relations (see Annex 1).

Vice-Chancellor

The Vice-Chancellor provides a lead on race equality issues and the promotion of racial harmony. He is responsible for ensuring the development, implementation and monitoring of the policy and the plan. He is also responsible for ensuring that governors are aware of their responsibilities, that staff are given the training they need to meet their obligations, that students are given information about the standards of behaviour expected of them, and that breaches of the policy are dealt with appropriately.

Pro-Vice-Chancellors

The Pro-Vice-Chancellors with responsibility for personnel and academic matters and student affairs are responsible for the co-ordination of activities arising from this policy and for the preparation of the annual report to Senate and the Board of Governors and the revision of the action plan.

Managers

All managers are responsible for promoting race equality. They will be expected to publicise the Race Equality Policy and to provide data when required to assist the monitoring of the policy and the action plan and to analyse this data in respect of the functions for which they are responsible in order to identify areas for improvement. They are also expected to make sure that appropriate information is made available to the staff and students for which they are responsible.

Staff

All members of staff are responsible for promoting race equality through their work. They are expected to behave in accordance with the University's Equal Opportunities Statement and Race Equality Policy and to attend appropriate training so that they are aware of and able to meet their responsibilities.

Students

Students are required to behave in accordance with the University's Equal Opportunities Statement. The processes for student representation are being reviewed to ensure enhanced consultation with, and participation of, the student body in the implementation of the policy and the action plan. Supporting training will be provided for student representatives in conjunction with the Union of Students.

7. Approach

The University has identified five broad functions which are likely to have the most impact on the achievement of the Race Equality Policy. These functions are identified below together with a list of some of the strategies, policies and procedures that will contribute to the impact of those functions on the achievement of the policy and/or generate information that will be used to assess and monitor their impact. This list is not exhaustive.

At this stage we do not feel it would be appropriate to prioritise any of these functions above another but in each year's action plan we will detail the activities related to each of the five functions we have identified for priority that year. Each of these activities will be related to, or designed to help us achieve, one of the specific duties. The action plan indicates the specific duty to which each action relates (see Annex 1).

The action plan confirms our intention to develop our information systems to enhance further the monitoring we are able to undertake. We will also continue to use the findings of the annual Student Satisfaction Survey to inform policy development and our services to students. Again information derived from these sources will help us prioritise activities each year.

University Management and Governance:

Through the implementation of the action plan the impact of these functions on students and staff from different racial groups will be assessed and monitored. This analysis will be informed by monitoring data and trend analyses as well as information derived from the quality assurance processes and the Student Satisfaction Survey. It will be used to set targets for improvement where this is deemed necessary. The quality assurance processes will be used to ensure that the analysis is used effectively to identify problems, to take remedial action where necessary and to disseminate good practice. The analysis will also be used to identify areas where further work is needed and to target resources most appropriately.

8. Partnerships and Procurement

Many of the University's programmes and services are delivered in partnership with external bodies. Some of these organizations are public bodies, for example, further education colleges, schools, local education authorities, hospitals etc and so will have their own Race Equality Policy but others are private sector organisations. The University will publish its Race Equality Policy to these bodies and where appropriate will seek confirmation that they will comply with the requirements of the Act and the University's policy.

In relation to procurement, the University is part of a higher education purchasing consortium which has procedures and contracts that comply with the Act and EU legislation. We have a clause in all tender invitations which requires compliance with current Race Relations legislation and all contractors are required to comply with our Equal Opportunities and Race Equality Policies when working at Birmingham City University. We intend to review our practices in the light of the CRE's guidelines for public authorities on public procurement and race equality.

9. Implementing and Developing the Policy

As noted above, the University believes that equal opportunities and the promotion of good race relations are the responsibilities of all members of the University. Therefore these matters are seen as an integral element of the University's management and its strategic development. Consequently, members of the Senate, its sub-committees, the senior management team (which is called the Deans/Directorate and includes all members of the Directorate, the Deans and all Directors of central departments), and the Personnel and Remuneration Committee all have key roles in ensuring the implementation of the policy and the action plan. The Senate and Deans/Directorate are chaired by the Vice-Chancellor.

In this capacity these committees will contribute to: dissemination of the policy, annual reviews of achievement against the action plan, the development of the next year's action plan, assessments of the impact of relevant policies and procedures on the Race Equality Policy, the collection and effective use of monitoring information and the presentation of information to the Board of Governors. They will also contribute to reviews of the policy. These bodies will consult widely and will use a range of mechanisms to consult staff and students from black and ethnic minorities, trade unions, associations for staff and students from black and ethnic minorities and appropriate external organisations. A consultative forum has been established, for example, which includes nominated staff representatives from black and minority ethnic groups to provide advice about matters related to personnel policies and practices.

To help these committees discharge their responsibilities, they will receive regular reports about individual policies and processes relevant to their sphere of operation. The purpose of these reports will be to suggest changes to a policy or a process where the monitoring or assessment exercises in the action plan have identified a need for change or suggested areas where improvements could be made. The outcomes of these exercises will be summarized in an annual report to Senate and the Board of Governors on the outcomes of monitoring of the action plan.

10. Communications

The revised policy together with the latest version of the action plan will be available to governors, staff, students and the general public on the web. Publication via the University's intranet has become the standard means of communicating many matters, including institutional policy, to staff and students and induction events tell new staff and students how to access this information. The annual report on the outcomes of the action plan will also be published on the website. The policy will be actively disseminated within the institution and to appropriate external bodies. For example, the web address for the policy and action plan will be included in student handbooks together with an invitation to submit comments to the Directorate. Any member of staff, student or member of the public who requests a copy of the policy will be provided with a paper version.

11. Failure to adhere to the Policy

Breaches of the Race Equality Policy will be investigated and dealt with through the University's disciplinary and development procedures.

Sally Westney
Pro-Vice-Chancellor
Revised September 2003