Race equality at UEL
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Race equality at UEL
The University of East London is committed to creating an equitable, anti-racist and inclusive university in which every member of our community is respected, valued and able to succeed.
In April 2024, UEL was awarded the Race Equality Charter Silver Award, becoming only the third university in the UK to achieve this level of recognition at the time. The award acknowledges the progress we have made while reinforcing our responsibility to continue identifying and addressing the institutional and cultural barriers experienced by racially minoritised staff and students.
Our Silver award is not the end of our Race Equality Charter journey. It provides a strong foundation for the next phase of our work: implementing our commitments, measuring their impact and embedding race equality throughout the University.
What is the Race Equality Charter?
The Race Equality Charter, commonly known as REC, is a national framework managed by Advance HE. It supports universities to understand and address the barriers that affect the representation, progression, experiences and success of racially minoritised staff and students.
Participation in the Charter requires institutions to examine their culture, policies, practices and outcomes honestly. This includes considering:
- the experiences and progression of racially minoritised staff;
- student access, continuation, attainment and graduate outcomes;
- recruitment, promotion and career development;
- leadership and decision-making;
- curriculum, teaching, assessment and research;
- belonging, dignity and psychological safety;
- experiences of racism, harassment and discrimination;
- the effectiveness of institutional reporting and support systems.
REC encourages universities to move beyond statements of commitment and demonstrate sustained, evidence-informed action.
UEL’s journey from Bronze to Silver
UEL achieved its first Race Equality Charter Bronze Award in 2019 following a two-year programme of institutional self-assessment, consultation and collaborative work involving staff and students.
Bronze recognised that UEL had developed a strong understanding of race inequality within the institution and had identified clear actions to address the barriers affecting staff and students.
Building on this foundation, UEL carried out a further evidence-based review of staff and student data, institutional policies, lived experiences and outcomes. This work informed a comprehensive action plan developed through consultation across the University.
In April 2024, UEL was awarded the Race Equality Charter Silver Award. At the time, UEL was only the third university in the UK to achieve REC Silver and the only university to hold both Race Equality Charter Silver and institutional Athena Swan Silver awards.
The award recognises sustained leadership, meaningful engagement with racially minoritised staff and students, stronger governance and accountability, and the integration of race equality into institutional decision-making. Most importantly, it acknowledges the progress UEL has made while recognising that race equality is an ongoing commitment rather than a completed goal. Achieving Silver places a responsibility on the University to continue delivering measurable and lasting change.
Our Race Equality Charter action plan
UEL’s REC action plan provides the roadmap for the implementation phase of our work. It translates the findings of our self-assessment into defined actions, responsibilities, measures and timescales.
The action plan is intended to address inequalities identified through institutional and local data, improve the experiences and outcomes of racially minoritised staff and students, strengthen accountability across Schools and Professional Services, ensure that race equality is considered in policy, practice and decision-making, develop the confidence and capability of leaders and staff to advance race equality, create clearer opportunities for members of our community to contribute to and scrutinise progress, and support sustainable cultural and institutional change.
Implementation will take place over the lifetime of the Silver award, with progress monitored regularly before UEL’s next REC submission and renewal.
Our areas of focus
Staff recruitment, representation and progression
We are working to ensure that staff recruitment, development and progression processes are fair, transparent and inclusive.
Our work includes examining workforce data and experiences across different stages of the employee journey, from attraction and appointment to development, promotion, leadership and retention.
Areas of focus include:
- inclusive recruitment and selection;
- representation at different grades and leadership levels;
- access to development, mentoring and sponsorship;
- career progression and promotion outcomes;
- equitable recognition of contribution;
- staff retention and experience;
- the identification and removal of structural barriers.
Student success and educational equity
UEL is committed to ensuring that students from every racial and ethnic background can access, participate in and succeed through higher education.
Our work considers the full student journey, including:
- access and transition into university;
- continuation and retention;
- academic experience and achievement;
- degree-awarding and other outcome gaps;
- belonging and engagement;
- access to placements, careers support and professional networks;
- progression into graduate employment or further study.
This work is connected to UEL’s wider student-success and Access and Participation commitments.
Inclusive curriculum, teaching and assessment
Race equality must be reflected in what we teach, how we teach and how students are assessed.
We are continuing to support the development of curricula and learning environments that:
- represent a diversity of knowledge, perspectives and lived experiences;
- enable students to engage critically with race, racism and inequality where relevant;
- use inclusive approaches to teaching and assessment;
- identify and address potential bias;
- support equitable participation and achievement;
- foster respectful dialogue and intellectual belonging.
Belonging, culture and psychological safety
We want UEL to be a place where staff and students feel that they belong, matter and can contribute without having to minimise or disconnect from important parts of their identities.
Our work seeks to strengthen:
- trust in institutional processes;
- respectful and inclusive working and learning relationships;
- confidence to speak about race and racism;
- opportunities for racially minoritised voices to inform decisions;
- culturally responsive support;
- visible institutional action when concerns are raised;
- a shared responsibility for creating an anti-racist culture.
Tackling racism, harassment and discrimination
Racism, racial harassment and discrimination have no place at UEL.
We are committed to ensuring that staff and students understand:
- the behaviours expected within our community;
- how to report racism, harassment or discrimination;
- what support is available;
- how concerns will be considered and addressed;
- how institutional learning will be used to prevent recurrence.
We will continue to review reporting routes, communication, support and institutional responses so that members of our community can have confidence in these systems.
Leadership and institutional accountability
Progressing race equality requires visible leadership and action at every level.
Senior leaders, Schools and Professional Services all have a role in delivering UEL’s REC commitments. Leaders are expected to understand relevant data, engage with lived experience, take responsibility for agreed actions and demonstrate how race equality informs local decision-making.
At UEL, race equality is not treated as the responsibility of one team or committee. It is a collective institutional responsibility.
Inclusive by Design
UEL’s Inclusive by Design framework supports the local implementation of our equality commitments.
Through Inclusive by Design, Schools and Professional Services are encouraged to examine institutional and local evidence, identify the most relevant equality challenges within their areas and develop proportionate actions.
This helps translate the ambitions of the Race Equality Charter into everyday decisions about people and culture, student experience and success, policies and processes, teaching and learning, service design and delivery, leadership and governance, and communication and engagement.
Inclusive by Design provides a connecting framework through which REC actions can be embedded across the University rather than delivered as a separate or isolated programme.
Governance and accountability
Delivery of the Race Equality Charter action plan is supported through UEL’s institutional equality governance arrangements.
The REC Self-Assessment and implementation structure brings together representatives from academic Schools, Professional Services and relevant staff and student communities. This collective approach ensures that implementation is informed by a range of institutional perspectives and areas of expertise.
Oversight includes monitoring delivery against agreed actions and milestones, reviewing both quantitative and qualitative evidence, identifying actions that are delayed or not achieving the intended impact, escalating risks and barriers where necessary, sharing effective practice across the University, reporting progress to institutional governance bodies, and preparing for future REC review and renewal.
The OIE supports the coordination of this work, but responsibility for delivery is shared across UEL, in close partnership with our People and Culture colleagues.
How we measure progress
Our approach is evidence-informed and combines institutional data with the experiences and perspectives of our community.
Progress is assessed through a range of measures, including staff recruitment and appointment, representation across grades and leadership, promotion, development and retention, employee engagement, inclusion and belonging, student continuation, achievement and progression, degree-awarding and student-success gaps, reports of racism, harassment and discrimination, confidence in reporting and institutional responses, participation in development and engagement activities, and the delivery and impact of School and Professional Services action plans.
We recognise that culture change cannot be understood through statistics alone. Surveys, focus groups, consultation, staff and student voice, case studies and other qualitative evidence are also essential to understanding whether people’s experiences are changing.
Where appropriate and lawful, we will take an intersectional approach, recognising that experiences of race can be shaped by gender, disability, socioeconomic background, religion, nationality and other aspects of identity.
Working with our staff and students
The progress represented by REC Silver was made possible through the contribution of staff, students, networks, committees and partners across UEL.
Continued engagement is essential to the implementation of our action plan. We will create meaningful opportunities for our community to contribute their experiences and perspectives, participate in consultations and focus groups, support local action planning, engage with staff and student networks, attend events, learning sessions and discussions, challenge the University constructively, and help evaluate whether our actions are making a difference.
We are committed to ensuring that engagement is purposeful and that members of racially minoritised communities are not expected to carry responsibility for solving institutional inequality.
Looking ahead
Our next phase is focused on moving from commitment to demonstrable and sustainable impact.
Over the lifetime of the Silver award, we aim to complete and evaluate the actions set out in our REC Silver action plan, strengthen accountability for race equality within Schools and Professional Services, embed REC priorities across the University through Inclusive by Design where appropriate, improve the quality and transparency of staff and student equality data, reduce persistent disparities in experience, representation, progression and outcomes, strengthen racial literacy and inclusive leadership capability, deepen staff and student participation in decision-making, identify and scale practices that are producing positive outcomes, share learning with the wider higher education sector, and establish the evidence and institutional maturity required for the next stage of our REC journey.
Our ambition is for race equality to be visible not only in our strategies and awards, but in the everyday experiences and outcomes of our staff and students.
National recognition from Advance HE
Advance HE announced UEL’s achievement in its article, “Third Silver REC awarded to University of East London.”
The announcement recognised UEL’s commitment, leadership and significant progress in addressing inequality and advancing race equality across the institution. It also highlighted the potential for UEL’s learning and effective practice to support progress across the wider higher education sector.
Find out more and get involved (for UEL staff and students)
Race equality is a shared and continuing responsibility. Staff and students can support this work by engaging with consultations, contributing to local action plans, participating in relevant networks and events, and helping us understand where further change is needed.
Contact us
For information about the Race Equality Charter and UEL’s race equality work, contact the Office for Institutional Equity at oie@uel.ac.uk.
Staff can also access further REC implementation information, resources and updates through the UEL intranet.