Introduction: Emerald Podcast series, research that makes a difference.
Fiona Allison: Welcome to the Emerald Podcast Series. In this episode we speak with two members of the executive team at the University of Bradford, Udy Archibong, Pro-Vice Chancellor in Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Professor of Diversity, and Nikki Pearce, Academic Registrar and Director of Student Academic and Information Services.
We're going to discuss the path universities forge in its long-standing practice of making diversity matter as evident in their recent awards. We discuss the achievements University has made to advances towards equality, elimination of discrimination and promotion of an inclusive working and learning environment. The University of Bradford is widely recognised as an equality, diversity and inclusion-leading institution adopting the systematic approach through which EDI is embedded in its culture, strategies, policies and practices. The university's goal is to enable all those within its community to develop their understanding of EDI matters to build the confidence to contribute and act to deliver change in the University. In 2021, The University of Bradford is ranked number one in the country for improving student’s social mobility. This comes on the back of the university being named ‘University of the year for social inclusion 2020’ by The Times and Sunday Times. In addition, the university has been shortlisted in the University of the year category in the UK social mobility award 2021.
So, Professor Udy Archibong is a Pro Vice Chancellor that directs the Centre for inclusion diversity and provides strategic oversight for equality, diversity and inclusion across the institution. She was listed in the New Year Honours list in 2015 and was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for her contributions to higher education equality, recognised as a foremost authority and sustained distinguished presence in the field of Diversity Management. She is currently leading in setting the agenda to drive research, learning and knowledge exchange activities internationally, and has published extensively on inclusion and diversity.
Nikki Pierce is Academic Registrar and Director of Student Academic and Information Services at the University of Bradford, she oversees registering student administration, Student Services, library services and IT services. She's also the lead for the university's access and participation plan.
So I think the first question that we're going to ask here is, what is the role of the university?
Udy Archibong: Okay so it’s Udy Archibong here, let me start by just giving the kind of generic everyday description of what I personally believe the goal of university education is. I think it is about helping build a fairer, more just society and it can do this in two ways. One way is about producing graduates who improve social life, and the other way is by promoting social mobility, which links very nicely with some of the things that we will be speaking about in this episode.
Nikki Pierce: I think if we were to think about the question, specifically in relation to the University of Bradford, I think the university is positioning itself very much as the university for and all of Bradford, and sees it as one of the key institutions in the Bradford region that can support Bradford as a city and a region to develop and improve the lives of everyone who lives here, and I think we do that. We aim to do that, firstly, as Udy said through supporting students, many of whom we recruit from the Bradford region to come study here and develop skills and knowledge that enable them to get excellent jobs with over 70% of them staying in the Bradford region, and therefore able to contribute directly to economic recovery in the region, but also through our research and our knowledge transfer activity, working to understand the issues in other regions and put in place solutions that enable the region to be a better place for everyone to live.
FA: So that really moves us on to the next question, which is so what are the problems in terms of disparity of opportunity and social mobility, and for Bradford being such a multicultural city? What are the problems there in terms of opportunities and social mobility?
NP: Well I think, I mean, Bradford as a region certainly hasn’t experienced the economic growth that some of the other large cities in the UK like Leeds and Manchester have experienced. So, there are real areas within the Bradford region of economic deprivation, we recruited a lot of our students from the Bradford region, and over 80% of our students come from the most financially disadvantaged backgrounds. So economically, there are some real issues within Bradford. The University of Bradford has worked really hard to encourage participation in higher education within Bradford, and we have seen a real improvement in participation rates. But economically, the region does remain deprived and Udy might be better placed to talk about some of those. But just recently, I was at an event, looking at the impact of COVID on young people within the region, and one of the things that was highlighted there was that there were some regions of Bradford, some areas very close to the university actually, where life expectancy can be 10 years less than the national average, but some real health inequalities as well. But Udy might have some more info on that.
UA: Yeah, definitely. I think in addition to what Nikki has said, we have experienced firsthand how the pandemic has amplified structural, social and health inequalities in nationally but very intensified in Bradford, based on some of the descriptions that Nikki has already given. I think we have seen our multiethnic Bradford really affected by issues of deprivation, the impact, the long-term conditions that we see in the city, and how they sometimes challenge people's life chances, and I think one of the advantages of a University like Bradford is where we are making access to universities truly open to students from these backgrounds to be able to contribute, irrespective of these disadvantages that they face. But I want to just expand that somewhat to go beyond the socio-economic factors to look at some of the other challenges around pay disparities, issues of equality generally. So I've talked about social inequalities, but we do see situations that impact on our students, that is to do with other aspects of their characteristics. Whether it is to do with social class, sexual orientation, physical ability, identity, and cultural backgrounds. The work our university is doing is to foster that social inclusion and provide the opportunity to enhance student's capacity for creativity and involvement in the economy. And I think it's really good to emphasise that because often we might just stick with the challenges based on ethnicity. But there are other factors, I think, its the intersections of these factors that really make it challenging for our students, like the ones that come to our university.
FA: Yes, I mean it's multifaceted, isn't it? So what sets Bradford’s approach, the university's approach to equality, diversity and inclusion apart? So what makes it unique? What's the institution doing?
UA: One of the big things about us in Bradford is the fact that we have grown to engage a whole scale with the diagnosis of the problem, accepting that there is a problem because we always believe that good institutions are institutions that start by acknowledging that there is a problem of a structural nature. And once that acknowledgement is there, which is the organizational diagnosis of the problem, then it's easy to start creating processes to sort things out. Because of that acknowledgement, we adopt a structural and intersectional approach, which understands that the issues of inequality are not necessarily about the individual factors. That is a conflation of institutional systems, organizational cultures and individual factors that come together to deepen the social inequalities that people experience. So that's one for us in Bradford in that acknowledgement. The other thing about Bradford is the going above and beyond legislation. So, whilst we do ensure that we meet the legal duties, the public sector equality duties, but we don't stop at that because we believe that that is the minimalist approach. So, our work goes beyond the nine protected characteristics to look at other aspects. For example, we've already spoken about socio economic factors, and how we take that on board. I think the other big thing about our success in Bradford is we are keeping at it, we are consistently ensuring that we address leadership contributions. So we have a very strong leadership approach to EDI work, and I believe that it is this sustained engagement of leaders in the university in executing our diversity and driving the performance that is making Bradford successful and I see that as very, very unique. The other thing is allowing our EDI, the equality, diversity and inclusion agenda to perfuse and inform everything that we do, ensuring that equality, diversity and inclusion is the beginning and the end and is central and is built into everything that we do in terms of staff experience, student experience, the way we engage with our community, and every other function of the university.
NP: Firstly for me, what sets us apart is that we have a we have a diverse community of students, but we don't rest on our laurels, and everything that the university does is very much geared towards what we would describe as making diversity count. And there's a real ethos of learning from each other and from learning from the diversity that we have. And as Udy says, we are very much around focusing on how we can improve our systems, our processes, what we are doing to promote equality, rather than fixing individuals or seeing a sort of deficit model around various protected groups. But what I think we also do well is recognise that where those structural issues exist that the university isn't fully in control of. So if it's one of our processes that’s leading into inequality, we can do something about that. But we're also good at recognizing where some of those issues are things that we can influence and have impact on but we can't entirely eradicate, and then having additional interventions to ensure that people who have that characteristic or that combination of characteristics aren't disadvantaged within our community. So for example, if we look at, for example, care leavers, the university can do a lot within its own community to ensure equality of opportunity for care leavers. But we cannot on our own, overcome the inequalities that exist in the care system before students come to us. And therefore, we signed up to, an honor the first institution to receive the quality mark for supportive care leavers. Because we recognise that we can't fully overcome those issues. And we do need therefore, to do some more things to ensure that care leavers have the same opportunities to show their potential and excel and succeed and progress as anybody else. And the other thing I think I'd say about the university, which has that earliest point about leadership is that, I think our approach and our true commitment, it causes diversity and inclusion, and it permeates through the whole institution. So if you speak to any member of staff, or any student, they all know what we're doing. They're all fully committed to it, and if anything, they are holding the leadership of the university to account continually to do even better in terms of equality and diversity. So we have to support the full community behind those, but actually that full community is always challenging us to do for and to do better. And I think that keeps our approach fresh and it ensures that our leaders are always looking to improve.
UA: So if I can just add to that, one of the things that I mentioned and Nikki has really explained that is about getting beyond the law, the protected characteristics. But there are specific things that we have done to deepen some of the work and we’re able to extend, I'll just I'll just mention two projects that have I think the Bradford approach is really, really looking how to deepen in one area, but using the lesson from that area to address inequalities in other areas.
So as part of our access and participation plan, we have launched a work stream entitled Decolonizing Uni Brad, which is central to the delivery of equality, diversity and inclusion strategy, which Nikki alluded to. Here, we recognise that racial inequality originates from colonialism, but we define our work in this area, beyond race equality, to look at other factors that intersect with race equality. We know that changes that we need to employ implement to address specific issues, and we addressed it by looking at the structures that undermine achievements of staff and students. We look at those deficits, and look at how we can have positive impacts for all staff student outcomes and behaviours across the institution. This project, the Decolonizing Uni Brad, really insists on us taking a true anti-racist stance, and we have this stance which insists that being a diverse university is not enough. We are so conscious that diversity is part of our university's heritage and celebrating that diversity alone is not enough. Our claim to being the University of social inclusion, and social mobility is marched with real actions and we stand very firmly in saying that being non-racist is not enough that being anti-racist is the only way forward. So we are very bold, because we know that the lessons around deepening our work around race will help us to begin to look at intersections. There are different approaches that we are using to ensure that we have inclusive leadership, as Nikki has alluded to, we run a project where we bring in a senior team with diverse parts of the university, we bring in our black students, our black and minority ethnic students in learning partnership with our senior leaders, and we extend that to other students as we move on. And I see that as a very specific way to acknowledge that the scale of the challenges runs deeper. And we have to look at it by getting to the root of the problem. And I think that is very specific in our approach to equality, diversity and inclusion in Bradford.
FA: Thank you both so much for such detailed answers there, I think it sounds like you want University of Bradford to be an example to other universities and institutions around the country by taking the lead here, that’s really good thank you. So my next question would be you both have alluded of it to this before. But I'd like to delve a bit more in sort of the place of the university within Bradford, you know, the sort of the town and the gown situation. So what does the university do in the city? In terms of, does it work with employers? Do its initiatives sit of outside the realm of the university? Could you go a bit more into that, please?
NP: I think the university is really deeply rooted in the city. We are partly what we are because of the city, and the city is partly what it is because of us. And I think there's a really good kind of mutually beneficial working that goes on. So members of key institutions within the city are part of our governing body our council, the chief executive, the local authority, for example, the member of our governing body, and then we have staff who are working on groups across the city and Udy will talk because she's chairing one of those groups. But I think we seek to work in partnership right across all aspects of the region. So you know, we've got projects around employability where we're working with employers for the benefit of our graduates, but also for the benefit of those local employers, so that they get the right skills they need for their workforce. We work really closely with the enterprise partnership to understand the skills needed across the region. Our Business School, our faculty of Management Law and Social Sciences runs advice centres to small and medium enterprises, to enable them to prosper and Bradford is one of the best places to be an SME in the country, it’s a real entrepreneurial city. So we're trying to work with all areas of the city for mutual benefit, because what is good for us as a university is also good for the city as a region. And we've also got really strong partnerships in relation to health care and our NHS trusts.
UA: Just to add to what Nikki has said, when we started up, Nikki gave a very great definition of what we are as a university that we are the University of, and for Bradford. And I think we don't take that lightly at all is something that is really deep rooted in the way we engage through our business and community engagement strategy. So one of the things that Nikki has alluded to is that we have many members of the university that are working with some of the partnership program and networks in the city. So one of our colleagues chairs the Economic Recovery Board And I chair the equalities board, which brings together all equality, diversity and inclusion experts city wide, from public, private, council organizations in one space. And in addition to us looking at inclusion as integral to every decision that is made in the city, we also hold city leaders to account. One of the things that we are very, very proud of is that we are able to learn from each other. So the things that we're good at we share with others, and we learn from others, the things that we're good at. We are a part of an activity in the city called Act As One and this brings together different parts of the city in one space, and it's mostly looking at healthcare development, and other strategic development in the city.
The other thing that is really good, and I want to give this as an example, as part of Act As One which Nikki is a partner, partnership work between many organizations. We launched a rooting out racism, root out racism, what we are trying to establish is to ensure that members of our organization have parity of experience around equality, diversity and inclusion. And therefore, if we are rooting out racism at Bradford University and rooting out racism at the Council, rooting out in the hospitals and health care trusts and so on, then when we all travel through these components of our city, we could have parallel experiences.
One of the things that Nikki mentioned was the great work that we're doing with partners across the city on employability. Our graduate workforce Bradford has been working with other partners as part of inclusive employers’ network. This is a network that seeks to support employers in this district to develop inclusive employment practices. We believe very strongly that our structural approach to equality has to start by accepting that if employment practices are not inclusive, there is no business expecting that if we fix individuals, they will be able to thrive. So what we do as part of this network is that we work with others, a toolkit has been developed, and this toolkit is to help us really equip ourselves as organizations with tools to effectively understand where we are on our inclusion journey. This toolkit is being used by the university to really focus on inclusion work, and look at our workplaces and our study spaces as inclusive environments that promotes cultural safety within the city. So I believe very strongly that When we say that we are University of and for Bradford, we really mean business. And you can see it from some of the examples that we've given you.
FA: I love that the University of and for, I think that's really great, very serious. And the university obviously does mean business for EDI so that’s really great. It was really interesting to hear about those different projects, it’s really putting your money where your mouth is in terms of EDI, and not just saying, you know, there's a lot of doing, which is obviously really great to see and to hear about.
Thank you for your time, both of you it's been really insightful to talk to you. I think it would be really interesting to do a follow up episode in about six months’ time, we can hear more about the initiatives and the impact that they're having, that would be really great. So again, I wanted to thank you both. It's been really insightful.
UA: Thank you.
FA: Thank you for listening to this episode. The full transcript is available on the website, as well as more information on our wonderful guests I’d like to thank one more time for joining me today. Also my thanks to Alex from This is Distorted for the editing of this episode.