Close
Supporting BAME student success conference 2021: registration open
13 April 2021
UCL staff and students can now register to attend a free, one-day BAME Awarding Gap conference on 9 June, 2021.
BAME conference outline announced
The UCL Black, Asian and minority Ethnic (BAME) Awarding Gap Project will hold a one-day conference for UCL staff and students on the theme of ‘Closing the BAME Awarding Gap at UCL: our journey so far'.
The conference will take place via Zoom on Wednesday, 9 June 2021 and will begin with a welcome from President & Provost, Dr Michael Spence at 9:45am.
The full conference programme is being finalised but the draft schedule is outlined below.
| Time | Session |
|---|---|
| 9.45-10.15 | Welcome and Introduction by the Provost Dr Michael Spence, and the Students' Union |
| 10.15-10.45 | Chris Millward (Director for Fair Access and Participation)Talk and Q&A |
| 10.45 -11.00 | Short Break |
| 11.00-11.50 | Heidi Mirza (Professor of Race, Faith and Culture at Goldsmiths, UoL, Professor Emerita in Equalities Studies at UCL, and Visiting Professor in Social Policy at LSE) Talk and Q&A |
| 11.50-12.30 | BAME Awarding Gap Project Update by Dr Julie Evans, Dr Parama Chaudhury, Sukhi Bath and Mahalia Davis |
| 12.30-1.30 | Lunch Break |
| 1.30-3.30 | Parallel Presentations from Staff and Students |
| 3.30-3.45 | Short Break |
| 3.45-4.15 | Q&A panel Chaired by Ijeoma Uchegbu (Pro-Vice Provost - Africa and The Middle East) |
| 4.15-4.30 | Closing by Deborah Gill (Vice-Provost, Education and Student Experience) |
UCL BAME Awarding Gap Project
The Supporting BAME student success conference is part of a three-year project to address the disparities in outcomes and experience of undergraduate Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) and white students at UCL.
Analysis of UCL data shows that there is a small but statistically significant discrepancy in the rate of good degrees achieved by Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) students compared with white students, despite entering UCL with the same high entry qualifications.
While UCL students, whether white or BAME, tend to perform well above national benchmarks, this discrepancy, known as an awarding gap, has persisted for the past few years.
A BAME Awarding Gap project team has been tasked with addressing the issue. Dr Julie Evans, Faculty Tutor in Brain Sciences, has undertaken part-time secondment to work alongside Paulette Williams, Head of Student Success Projects in the Office of the Vice-Provost (Education and Students).
The team is working with Deans and faculty leads to analyse faculty-specific data and introduce a toolkit of interventions to close the awarding gap.
The outcomes of this project will also feed into the broader initiative preparing UCL’s application to renew our Race Charter status.