Race Equality Charter - Bronze

May 2022.

We’re proud to have been awarded the Race Equality Charter Bronze award, independent recognition of our commitment to working towards race equality and determination to tackle race inequality at all levels.

Kulbir Shergill, Director of Social Inclusion, commented:

“We’re proud to have achieved this important kite mark, which was gained as a result of the hard work of many Warwick people and recognises that we are moving forward with our race equality work.

“The work that we have done so far, such as increasing the proportion of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff in academic and professional services positions since 2017, has helped us focus our resources on critical issues that will help us to move the dial. We acknowledge the feedback from Advance HE and will incorporate that into our next steps. This Bronze Race Equality Charter award really is just the beginning.

“We continue to work together to make Warwick a place where all students and staff feel valued, safe and supported to achieve their full potential, where racial diversity and inclusion are the norm, and where racism of any kind is stamped out.”

Anil Awesti, Chair of the Race Equality Taskforce, said:

"This submission outlines our progress, and the work still to go. We very much appreciate the input of everyone who shared their experiences, and contributed to the submission. The process helped us to look more closely at the challenges, and importantly, identify actions we can take to address them."

Mike Shipman, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International), Executive Sponsor for race equality, and Chair of the University's Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment Team, said:

"The feedback from our previous submission to the REC was the start of a journey for us towards a deeper understanding of the causes of racial inequality for our students and staff. We heard what staff and students were telling us in our surveys and focus groups – and the feedback was really valuable in helping us to understand the issues we need to focus on.

"We’re really pleased to have received this independent recognition of our work so far.

What are the next steps?

• We know we need greater ethnic diversity at senior levels to bring in diversity of thought and role models for our students and staff. Reviewing our HR recruitment processes and implementing programmes such as INspire will help us to do this.
• We are working to develop a culture that is anti-racist, through our focus on working with leaders, to help them develop their inclusive leadership skills and knowledge, combined with programmes such the Tackling Racial Inequality at Warwick training.
• The development of an Inclusive Education Model is bringing together our practice to eliminate the awarding gap. It takes a holistic approach to the student experience from the content of curriculum to the cultural experience in the classroom and on campus.
• To help increase staff and student confidence in reporting incidences of racial harassment and discrimination in our community, we’ve also been running awareness campaigns about the confidential support available.

We’ll be reporting progress against our action plan to Council and Senate regularly, and we’ll continue to consult and update the Warwick community on our progress.

Want to know more?

Find more about the Race Equality Charter, and the other charters and benchmarking exercises which allow us to measure our progress on race equality and identify areas for improvement, on our Awards and Accreditations webpages.