BME Staff, Seniority & Mentoring Dr Debra Cureton

Overview BME Staff and Seniority in HE –The National Picture –The Local Picture The Equality and Diversity Unit initiatives: –Staff Mentoring Scheme –Research into BME Seniority at UoW

The National Picture

BME Staff & HE  BME staff represent  8.6 % of HE academic staff  6.9 % of professional and support staff.  academic staff from BME groups is  22.3 % among non-UK nationals,  6.1 % among UK nationals (HEFCE, 2008, based on HESA data).

Differences between BME groups Academic Staff Comparatively Less black, Asian and mixed/other –work in HE academic posts –qualified to be in academic jobs –A notable exception are those of Chinese ethnicity, who are over-represented (AUT, 2005, based on HESA data).

Differences between BME groups Non-academic Staff less Black, Asian and mixed/other are underrepresented –in HE non-academic posts –who hold NVQ level 4 qualification –Again Chinese staff are a notable exception (AUT, 2005).

BME Staff & Seniority The work of Carter et al. (1999) and Macpherson (1999) led to further developments in institutional equity and diversity policies However, significant disparity between white and BME seniority still exists. This varies considerably across type of institution and subject area (HEFCE, 2008)

The Local Picture What is the UW Picture? What is the UW doing about this?

Equality & Diversity Initiatives The local picture requires: –immediate preventative action –research to uncover the UW picture The Equality & Diversity Unit funds: –the staff mentoring scheme –Bespoke research

Staff Mentoring Scheme Institutional wide mentoring scheme –Voluntary, formal, peer to peer mentoring scheme –Involves 247 members of staff –Trained 130 mentors –Facilitated 124 mentoring matches (March, 2010)

Progress? March, 2010 –16% of scheme participants are from BME backgrounds –34% (11%)* of BME staff involved were mentors –66% (21%)* of BME staff involved were mentees –* of all scheme participants Nov 2009 –8.6% of scheme participants are from BME backgrounds –22% of BME staff involved were mentors –78% of BME staff involved were mentees

Research BME staff Seniority –Snapshot of BME Seniority at UoW –BME staff progression at the UoW –Managerial attitudes to staff progression at the UoW Mentoring Research –Mentoring Scheme Evaluation –UoW staff attitudes towards mentoring –Mentoring and work based stress

What we’ve found so far….. Staff apply for internal promotion Multiple motivators –Experience –Encouragement –Aspiration/ Self Motivation Support, help and encouragement Facilitators –Equality and Diversity awareness –Demonstrating enhanced skills –Resilience Barriers –Help and support –Availability of promotion –Experience/ Perceptions of experience –Variety of Administration roles –Disadvantaged Feedback Impacts –Undervalued/worthless –De-motivated –Angry

Next Step Triangulation of research Identifying actions Working together to produce solutions

Thank you Questions? Comments!