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About Accelerate to Leadership

Find out why UCL has launched Accelerate to Leadership, plus UCL's commitment and support for the scheme.

Why UCL has launched the scheme

UCL is committed to increasing the diversity of our senior staff and creating a senior workforce that better reflects our wider staff and student community. This scheme takes steps to encourage, train and develop future BAME leaders in order to create a diverse internal talent pipeline for senior grade 8, 9 and 10 professional services roles, as and when they arise.

The purpose of Accelerate to Leadership is to:

  • Enable talented BAME staff to obtain vital leadership experience through a 3–12 month paid internal work placement, that can assist in developing the skills, capability and confidence to compete for more senior roles when they arise.
  • Provide development and support to enable BAME staff to prepare for promotion or progression opportunities.

Support for Accelerate to Leadership

Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff are under represented at the senior grades (Grades 8, 9 and 10) in UCL. This is not acceptable. The secondment scheme will enable Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff to gain experience at these senior grades and thus apply, and be fairly considered, for promotion. 

Professor Ijeoma F Uchegbu, Pro-Vice Provost – Africa and The Middle East, Chair in Pharmaceutical Nanoscience, UCL Provost’s Envoy for Race Equality
 

The deeply entrenched racialized inequalities within our society are manifest all too clearly at UCL, and there is an urgent need to take new, positive actions to produce the changes to which we are committed. This ‘Accelerate to Leadership’ programme is an innovative move, and one that I hope will be widely embraced across the full range of professional services functions and departments of UCL. 

Professor Sasha Roseneil, Dean of the Faculty of Social & Historical Sciences, UCL SMT Race Equality Champion 
 

I am delighted to extend my whole hearted support for the Accelerate to Leadership programme for Black, Asian & Minority Ethnic Professional Services Staff at UCL. I am a passionate advocate for providing development opportunities for future leaders and this scheme is specifically designed to nurture our own BAME internal talent and in turn diversify our senior staff. This is an incredibly positive step and an important development for UCL.

Fiona Ryland, Chief Operating Officer
 

  Innovative schemes like this one are required to address the under representation of staff at grades 8, 9 and 10  and this practical programme is long awaited by BAME professional services staff. The scheme is developed in-house and will benefit more staff and is a step in the right direction.

Marcia Jacks, Institute Manager for the EGA Institute for Women's Health and Co-Chair of UCL's Race Equality Steering Group