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Call for abstracts: UCL BAME Awarding Gap Conference 2021
18 May 2021
Staff and external guests are invited to share success stories and lessons learned from the ongoing journey to close the undergraduate BAME Awarding Gap. Deadline extended to Monday 31 May.
The UCL Black, Asian and minority Ethnic (BAME) Awarding Gap Project will hold a one-day conference on Wednesday 9 June on the theme of ‘Closing the BAME Awarding Gap at UCL: our journey so far'.
The conference, taking place via Zoom, will open with a welcome from President & Provost, Dr Michael Spence.
The deadline for submissions has been extended. UCL staff and external speakers are invited to submit suggestions for presentations or facilitated discussions by the end of Monday 31 May.
Celebrate success and shape the journey
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.
UCL is on a journey to address this disparity in the outcomes and experience of undergraduate Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) and white students at UCL.
We invite staff to contribute to the conference – to share and celebrate successes so far and to help drive forward the conversation on what more needs to be done at UCL to close this gap.
Staff and guests can contribute in two ways:
Giving a 10 minute presentation followed by a 10 minute Q&A about ongoing or completed work relating to the undergraduate awarding gap, OR
Facilitating a 30 minute discussion about a topic relating to the BAME Awarding Gap.
The presentations and discussions can be in partnership with students and can discuss work in progress, as well as work completed.
We also welcome contributions from colleagues outside of UCL who are working in this area.
Submit an abstract by the end of Monday 31 May.
Themes
We welcome presentations and facilitated discussions on any topic related to the conference theme: ‘Closing the BAME Awarding Gap at UCL: our journey so far'.
Timeline
DEADLINE EXTENDED: The closing date for submission of abstracts is the end of Monday 31 May.
The conference will take place on 9 June 2021, from 9:45am - 4.30pm. All submitted presentations/discussions will be delivered live, online between 1.30pm-3.30pm on that day.
We aim to announce the finalised programme by Tuesday 25 May.
Student contributions
Students will also be invited to submit asynchronous content in the form of a blog, 5 minute video or a powerpoint presentation on any work they have undertaken related to closing the BAME Awarding Gap at undergraduate level at UCL.
In recognition of the financial hardship that some students have suffered due to the loss of their part-time jobs during the pandemic, the conference committee will award a stipend of £25 for each student involved in a successful submission of asynchronous content.
See the student call for contributions.
Further information
See the draft conference schedule and register for the event.
For any queries, please contact the BAME Awarding Gap project team via Sukhi Bath, Head of Student Success Projects and Co-Lead BAME Awarding project.