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UCLU and CALT to explore BME student experience

18 March 2014

As you may know, UCLU's full-time Black and Minority Ethnic Students' Officer (BMESO) is a first for a UK university.



The role is to support students who self-define as being Black or from an Ethnic Minority (BME). This includes international students and students who have origins in Africa, Asia, Arab countries or the Caribbean.

In collaboration with the Centre for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching (CALT), UCLU are seeking the views of BME students and to discuss their experiences here at UCL.

The National Student Survey notes that students who define as Black are 10% less satisfied than their peers, and this is something we seek to address. We collected a few comments from students around the campus, and you can watch what they said here.

We have recently requested statistical information from UCL departments and we are now keen to hear directly from BME students.

We will be running hour-long focus groups over the next two weeks in order to explore students' views. We will be offering a £20 Waterstones voucher to everyone who contributes. 

The only way to make real change for the students here is if we are willing to explore ways of improving their experiences.

If staff know of any students who might be interested in attending, we request that they email the student's name, course and year of study to Abbie Willett

CALT and the BMESO are working towards improving the opportunities for students, and by doing this, increasing the number of students positively engaged in learning.

Vice-Provost (Education) Anthony Smith has put his full support behind this project and we hope everyone at UCL see its evident value.

Shanell Johnson, BMESO