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Survey on the lived experiences of Black, Asian and ethnic minority staff & students in HE in Wales

Descriptions

The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) is a Welsh Government Sponsored Body, established under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. We regulate fee levels at higher education providers, ensure a framework is in place for assessing the quality of higher education and scrutinise the performance of universities and other designated providers. We provide funding for higher education teaching, research and innovation, and apply our influence and expertise to help deliver Welsh Government priorities for higher education that also have wider societal and economic benefits. A copy of our most recent annual report is available on our website as well as information on our Corporate Strategy.Our Corporate Strategy objectives include to challenge and support higher education to deliver high quality, accessible and inclusive education and training to all who could benefit from it, to meet the long-term social, cultural, economic and environmental needs of the local, national and global community. This aim reflects our overarching position to increase the access, retention and success of staff and students in HE, regardless of their backgrounds.HEFCW and the higher education sector is subject to the Equality Act 2010 which includes duties to eliminate unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations.The Equality and Human Rights Commission is the Welsh Government’s equality and diversity regulator. Our policy and funding role in race equality and anti-racism is referenced in our equality, diversity and inclusion commitments, as set out in our Strategic Equality Plan.From April 2024, arrangements for monitoring and reporting for anti-racist higher education will be to the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research (the Commission). It will become the sole funder and regulator for further education (FE), higher education (HE), apprenticeships, work-based learning (WBL), adult learning and sixth forms. It will also be responsible for Welsh Government funded research and innovation.The Commission will be established on 1 April 2024 to deliver post-16 education. It will include a strategic duty to promote equality of opportunity and a student welfare condition of registration.Rationale for the workWelsh Government’s "Programme for Government" includes an action on celebrating diversity and eliminating inequality in all its forms. In June 2022 Welsh Government published the "Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan" (the Plan) which set out goals and actions for Wales to become an anti-racist nation by 2030. The Plan was co-produced with members of the Black, Asian and ethnic minority community to take account of lived experiences in Wales.There are two specific goals for higher education.Staff and students can expect their experience of higher education to be positive irrespective of their racial and ethnic background.Better use of levers available to promote anti-racist culture in higher education.There is no standard system or mechanism across the whole UK sector to monitor the Black, Asian and ethnic minority staff and student experience. The proposed work is designed to provide HEFCW and the Commission for Tertiary Education and Research with insights and understanding of the support for, and challenges faced by, these staff and students. This survey is intended to report the experience, and identify recommendations to HEFCW that would inform policy development. There may be interesting practice or lessons to be learned that may be identified.The procurement aims to appoint a contractor to carry out a survey to record the lived experiences of Black, Asian and ethnic minority staff and students in higher education in Wales. This can include, but is not limited to, their experiences of living, working and studying in higher education in Wales, including experiences of racial discrimination and harassment, experiences of racial equity, and their views on what needs to change for Wales to become an anti-racist nation. The research will inform our policy developments and will build on the race equality/ anti-racism data monitoring annual report published by HEFCW from 2023.