Article written by Simeon Anyalemechi

Your Business and Law Officer

TIME FOR CHANGE, ACTION NOT WORDS.

The University of Salford is a home to students from diverse communities. Recently, the University have set a clear Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Key Performance Index (KPI), showing commitment beyond words in actualizing these goals. These were outlined in the university's updated Annual Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) report 2022. Below, I've pulled out what I think are the most important matters for students, and added a commentary.

Worthy of note is the creation of the office of the Pro Vice Chancellor EDI and the recruitment of Pradeep Passi. This office will lead in ensuring that the institution take action on EDI issues, while ensuring that the university meets its commitment of being a “proudly inclusive” organisation.

While some appreciable progress has been made so far, there are still areas of self-reflection and action if the school wants to enact on this year's Black History Month theme - Actions, Not Words.

Spotlight on BAME Award Gap

On a macro scale, the school must reflect on the current Office for Students (OfS) report. This showed an increase in the BAME Award Attainment Gap and support for black students. More understanding of the reasons for the widening of this gap should be sought.

Spotlight on Staff Recruitment

Recruitment data shows that white job applicants are more likely to be successful than Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups. Lack of diversity in the staff profile has been an issue; patterns shown on the 2021 EDI report show that BAME candidates make up to approximately a third of job applications, but less than a fifth of successful candidates.

Action needs to continue to ensure that the staff who support our students reflect demographics from the ethnic minority group across departments. While the university is working to implement this, similar action should be taken to serve the growing diverse population of international students on campus to ensure representation. The Students' Union can lead on this to show good example while holding the university accountable to keep to this commitment.

Spotlight on Inclusive Events for ALL students

When designing events meant for all students, it is important that we consider planning for what will attract all students - especially minorities and people of colour, and give them a sense of belonging as well. Are there spaces meant for all students that people of colour do not usually go to? And why? Proactive measures should be set to ensure a balance.

A crucial aspect of taking action is sharing the responsibility of ensuring that as a campus, we create an inclusive experience free from any forms of discrimination or unfair treatment across all departments and spaces. Courageous and non-judgmental conversations around discriminatory experiences should also be encouraged and no-one should feel insecure in doing so. Minorities, especially black people, would rather remain silent, and we need to encourage them to break that circle so that they don’t suffer in silence.

In taking action, lets encourage ourselves to treat each other with kindness, fairness, equality, and dignity.

If you would like to get involved with campaigning for change, you can get in touch with our Head of Student Voice, Zaki, at z.kafal-ghazal@salford.ac.uk, who will be able to put you in touch with our Student Officers.

We are also creating a Black Student Panel to hear more from our Black students at the University of Salford throughout the academic year. This panel will be used to gather ideas on events and activities at the Students’ Union and how these can be made more representative.

Please fill out our form with your email address if you’re interested in being part of this panel.