Keele has been awarded a Race Equality Charter (REC) Bronze Award by Advance HE to recognise the University’s commitment to tackling race equality in the Keele community and in higher education more broadly.

Keele joins a group of only 12 institutions that have been successful in achieving the award since it was launched in 2016.

The Race Equality Charter aims to improve the representation, progression and success of minority ethnic staff and students within higher education, with awards given to institutions which develop initiatives and solutions to address race equality issues.

The charter covers all staff and students involved in higher education, including professional and support staff and academic staff, as well as covering student progression and attainment, and the diversity of the curriculum.

Keele’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Trevor McMillan, said: “We are delighted to receive this award, which reflects the University’s strong commitment to providing equal opportunities for all of our staff and students regardless of their background. Our objective in signing up to the Charter in 2017 was to use the award framework as a catalyst to drive forward cultural and systemic changes through an enhanced understanding of the issues and barriers that stand in the way of minority ethnic staff and students. Over the last two years we have made good progress in opening up a meaningful dialogue on matters of race inequality. A great example of this is the video produced by our students to raise awareness about micro-aggressions which has just been launched (see below).

“This recognition from the Race Equality Charter is a testament to the ongoing work by the University to break down barriers to education for all students, which was also exemplified by our recent support for the ‘Closing the Gap’ joint report by the National Union of Students and Universities UK, which aims to eliminate the black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) student degree attainment gap.”

Ammara Khan, Head of Race Equality Charter at Advance HE, added: “Congratulations to Keele University and the University of East London for their work to improve race equality. In three years, we have welcomed 55 members to the Charter with 12 awards won, demonstrating the progress made to address the institutional and cultural barriers standing in the way of minority ethnic staff and students.

“Through our work across Advance HE and the Charter in particular, we will continue to encourage and support our members to address race inequality and to achieve their equality and diversity goals.”