Freedom to Achieve is De Montfort University’s commitment to its students, whatever their ethnicity, to ensure there is an equal playing field. The attainment gap between Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME)1 and white students within UK Higher Education (HE) is well documented and DMU are part of a ground-breaking project to positively address this issue. As part of this multi-faceted programme, the Community and Criminal Justice Division (CCJ) undertook a pilot study to explore our BAME students’ experiences at the university. The aim of these results is to help establish preliminary short term and long term strategies to help deliver overall improvements in the BAME attainment gap and aspirations to achieve at DMU.
After undertaking a survey of BAME students within the CCJ, a series of key thematic areas emerged, namely: 1) Assessments, 2) Discrimination, 3) Diversity, 4) Lecture Style, 5) Support, and 6) Universal Design for Learning. We examine and explore these issues in relation to three key theoretical models used to explore BAME attainment in Higher Education. Nigrescence Theory, Social Identity Theory, and Critical Race Theory are all used to help understand the experiences of BAME students. Using the results, we have identified a series of short and long term recommendations that could be utilised to ensure and take steps towards addressing the attainment gap between BAME and White students at DMU
