{"id":998,"date":"2026-09-30T14:03:53","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T13:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/edi\/?p=998"},"modified":"2026-09-30T14:03:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T13:03:53","slug":"five-priorities-for-advancing-race-equity-at-loughborough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/edi\/five-priorities-for-advancing-race-equity-at-loughborough\/","title":{"rendered":"Five priorities for advancing Race Equity at Loughborough\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Since achieving the Race Equality Charter (REC) Bronze Award in 2021, colleagues and students across Loughborough University have worked together to drive meaningful progress in race equity. This shared commitment has led to significant developments across the institution<\/a> and laid the foundations for the next phase of our work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Race Equality Charter is a national framework that supports universities to identify and address racial inequalities through critical self-evaluation and evidence-based action. The process supports institutions to examine where progress has been made, where challenges remain, and what further action is needed to create lasting change. The process is not only about recognising achievement, but also about reflecting and ensuring that our efforts are making a genuine difference to the experiences of staff and students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The University’s REC renewal process is overseen by the Self-Assessment Team (SAT), co-chaired by Richard Taylor, Chief Operating Officer, and Veronica Moore, Executive Director of EDI Services. The work is led by Emily Segaran, EDI Officer for Race, Religion and Belief, and International. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the past year, we have been preparing our application to renew our award in November 2026. This has involved extensive analysis of staff and student data, including findings from the Staff Experience Survey, National Student Survey (NSS), and our dedicated REC Survey. Working with key stakeholders across the University, we have identified five key priorities that will shape our action plan for 2027-2032.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Engagement and communication\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Survey findings showed that racially minoritised staff and students reported lower levels of wellbeing, belonging and connection to the University community. To address this, we will develop an inclusive culture through: embedding race equity more consistently within GLOW; working closely with Loughborough Students’ Union to improve engagement with students; addressing racial inequities within all levels of Sport; strengthening communication about race equity initiatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Trust and reporting\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Racially minoritised staff and students were less likely than their white peers to feel confident raising concerns or reporting incidents. Many also expressed uncertainty about how reports would be handled and whether colleagues and leaders felt equipped to discuss race-related issues. Actions to address this priority include: strengthening both formal and informal reporting pathways for racism, bullying, harassment and discrimination, ensuring they are clear, accessible and transparent; strengthening specific support for staff and students who are subject to bullying, harassment and discrimination based on race; provide training and resources to upskill staff and students to build cultural competence, become active bystanders and respond to racism with confidence and compassion.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Addressing ethnicity awarding gaps\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Across the institution, there remains a significant awarding gap for Black and Asian students (the proportion who receive a 1st or 2:1 compared to white students). Our approach focuses on embedding inclusive learning, teaching and assessment practices across the institution, in alignment with our Access and Participation priorities<\/a>. Although targeted support initiatives are valuable, sustainable progress depends on addressing the structural factors that contribute to awarding gaps. The actions identified are expected to benefit the other marginalised groups such as disabled students, students from lower-income backgrounds, and the wider student population.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Addressing structural inequalities in recruitment and promotion\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Data shows that racially minoritised staff remain under-represented in senior roles and continue to experience unequal outcomes in recruitment, promotion, reward and recognition processes, and pay. Applicants from racially minoritised backgrounds are shortlisted and appointed at lower rates than white applicants across both academic and professional services roles. This priority will focus on reviewing and redesigning our key people processes, including recruitment, promotion, line management and grievance procedures, to address the structural factors that contribute to these inequities.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Strengthening equitable data structures\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

High-quality data is essential for understanding experiences and measuring progress. Currently, inconsistencies in the way we collect and use equality data can limit effective monitoring and decision-making, and risks fragmented analysis, data misinterpretation, deficit-focused narratives, and strategic misalignment across the University. We aim to build an institution-wide, anti-discriminatory approach to collecting, accessing and analysing data.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next steps\u00a0<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Improving communication and engagement is a key priority within our new action plan. As part of this, we will be sharing more regular updates on REC activity and wider race equity work taking place across the University, helping staff and students stay informed about progress and opportunities to get involved. We look forward to sharing further updates following the submission of our REC renewal application in November 2026. In the new year, we will be holding a launch event to communicate our refreshed REC action plan, setting out the next phase of our work to advance race equity across Loughborough University.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since achieving the Race Equality Charter (REC) Bronze Award in 2021, colleagues and students across Loughborough University have worked together to drive meaningful progress in race equity. This shared commitment has led to significant developments across the institution and laid the foundations for the next phase of our work.  The Race Equality Charter is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":693,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"lboro_blog_alternative_thumbnail_image":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-race-equality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/693"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=998"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1003,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/998\/revisions\/1003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/edi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}