This was possible due to the work of many colleagues and students from across the University over the last three years following Loughborough signing up to the Charter in April 2018.
The REC is underpinned by five fundamental guiding principles. This provides a framework for institutions to identify and acknowledge institutional and structural factors that hinder the representation, progression, and success of racialised and minority ethnic staff and students.
Signing up to the REC enabled important investigations, consultations, and actions that will support the University’s aim of being an anti-racist institution committed to racial equality and equity.
The last eighteen months have highlighted the wider context for why such significant work needs to be undertaken. Coverage and reaction to tragic events such as the murders of George Floyd, Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry, and the associated Black Lives Matters protests, have influenced important and overdue discussions about institutional racism. The disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on people from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds has also encouraged the need for societal inequalities to be addressed.
Co-Chairs of the Race Equality Action Group James Esson and Richard Taylor commented:
“We would like to express our sincere thanks to all the colleagues and students involved in the REC process. In particular, we would like to acknowledge staff members from the BAME Staff Network, and students from the African-Caribbean Society and the Ethnic Minorities Network.
“We will follow through with the comprehensive action plan to progress race equality work. The action plan has been approved for implementation regardless of the outcome of Loughborough’s submission, and we look forward to sharing the details with the wider University community soon.”
The submission and action plan were approved by University Council on 1 July 2021. They will be published on the University website in the coming months, with events and other initiatives to follow shortly after.
More information about Advance HE’s Race Equality Charter can be found here. Further details about the work behind Loughborough’s submission can be viewed on the dedicated webpages. A report by Universities UK on racism in UK Higher Education can be viewed here.