Dr Yaz Osho, Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Course Leader for the Business Management Social Enterprise course, has written an article for Times Higher Education magazine’s blog Campus about how universities can translate a stated commitment to Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) and anti-racist work into practical, operational delivery.
In the article, Dr Osho highlights that although universities have recognised the importance of supporting EDI and anti-racism work, some initiatives have been condemned as ‘tokenistic’ and treated as a compliance exercise by some institutions.
Dr Osho affirms that EDI needs to be embedded at the institutional level and should be viewed as crucial to universities’ success in the same way as the Research Excellence Framework (REF) and the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).
The article provides several recommendations to support this, including sharing anti-racism work across all within institutions, not just minoritised groups; the introduction of strategies, policies, and key performance indicators for EDI to measure outcomes; the need for initiatives to be localised and based on the needs of staff and students; and the endorsement of senior leadership of EDI training.
Speaking about the importance of EDI work being shared across institutions, Dr Osho explained: “Research has shown that those engaging in this work tend to be minoritised groups. Undertaking this work as a racially minoritised person can be lonely and isolating and can lead to trauma and harm. It is therefore important for this work to be shared.
“One of the ways this can be achieved is through cultivating a culture of collective responsibility for EDI and anti-racism. Central to this is publicising the impact of initiatives on the experiences of all staff and students, encouraging academic and professional staff to work alongside each other on EDI and anti-racist initiatives as part of routine work and embedding EDI and anti-racism into institutional strategies and policies.”
On the importance of supporting staff so that they can make time to contribute towards EDI work, Dr Osho added: “Universities must not have a “business-as-usual” approach to EDI and anti-racism. EDI is a step in the right direction, but there is a lot of work that needs to be done relating to anti-racism. Sufficient resources must be ring-fenced for EDI and anti-racist initiatives in the same way that resources have been poured into teaching and research within the sector.
“Financial resources, including the “buying out” of staff members’ time and paid student support are some ways we can build this future.”
Read the full article on the THE Campus website.
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