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1
Council Item #
Date of Meeting*13th
November 2014
Report Title: Annual Update on Equality and Diversity
Council Sponsor: Jeremy Howells
1.0 Purpose of Report
1.1 To provide a update on progress of embedding equality and diversity into the
University Strategy and report progress on E&D KPI’s.
1.2 To update Council on progress of the 2012/13 equality & diversity objectives
(Appendix 1).
1.3 To provide a summary of the annual diversity monitoring report for staff and students
(Appendix 2).
2.0 Recommendations
Council is asked to note and comment on progress made on all the equality and diversity
activities.
3.0 Summary
3.1 Over the last 12 months the University has taken a more strategic approach to
equality and diversity (E&D), embedding it throughout Vision 2020 and establishing
Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) to measure progress.
3.2 The focus over the next 12 months will be to integrate E&D in each of the strategic
plans (Education, Research, People, IT, Estate, Finance and International), to deliver
the University’s aspirations in Vision 2020 and ensure that E&D ‘sits at the heart of
culture and operational delivery’ (ECU)1
.
3.3 The Equality and Diversity Advisory Committee will lead on the development of a
process or framework to further promote equality across the University’s faculties and
services as well as throughout the staff lifecycle and student experience.
1
The Equality Challenge Unit is a public body established to support the Higher Education sector in
implementing equality and diversity. www.ecu.ac.uk
2
3.4 In doing this the University will identify where it is now against where it wants to be,
using data trends and examples of good practice and guidance provided by the ECU
and others.
3.5 Appendix 1shows progress made against the six E&D objectives Council endorsed in
July 2013.
3.6 Appendix 2 provides a summary of the annual diversity monitoring report for staff
and students for 2013/14.
4.0 Further Information
4.1 In addition to the E&D objectives, two E&D performance indicators were established:
in 2012/13. Progress on these objective is reported below:
4.2 Athena SWAN: ‘To achieve three faculty/departmental Athena SWAN Silver Awards by
2015’.
The University can only apply for an institutional Silver Athena SWAN award when a
number of departments or faculties have achieved a Silver Athena SWAN award. Two
applications for a Silver award will be submitted in November 2014 and a further four
academic units/faculties are planning to submit in 2015.
The outcomes of the first of these submissions will be known in February 2015. In
light of this the overall aspiration for the University to achieve a Silver award by 2015
cannot be realised before 2016.
4.3 Promotions: ‘To increase the percentage of academic women applying for promotion
at level 6 and 7 by three percentage points in 2014/15 when compared to 2012/13’.
The interim statistics show that applications from women applying for promotion to
Level 7 this year compared to 2012/13 increased marginally whereas it slightly
decreased for women applying for promotion to Level 6. However, applications from
men to both Levels 6 and 7 decreased for the same period. Overall the numbers of
women applying for promotion is significantly higher than three years ago.
The focus over the next couple of years will be to further improve the pipeline for
women. A detailed report has been submitted to Senate setting out actions to support
this activity.
5.0 Implications
5.1 Strategic
This work supports the University mission which states ‘the University of Southampton is a
world-class university built on the quality and diversity of our community’.
5.2 Financial
N/A
3
5.3 Equality and Legal
This work helps the University to meet its requirements under the Equality Act 2010
5.4 Risk and Health & Safety
N/A
5.5 Reputation
Engagement with the equality and diversity enhances the University’s reputations as a fair and
inclusive global employer.
6.0 Consultation
7.0 Appendices
7.1 Appendix 1- Report on the 2012/13 equality & diversity objectives
7.2 Appendix 2 Summary the annual diversity monitoring report for staff and students for
2013/14.
Report Author: Kamaljit Kerridge-Poonia
Telephone: 023 8059 2945
Email: [email protected]
1
Appendix 1
Report on Equality and Diversity Objectives 2013/14
1. Purpose
This report sets out progress on the equality and diversity (E&D) objectives agreed in 2013/14.
Council will be aware that the University has become a significantly more globally diverse organisation
over the past decade. In 2013/14, the proportion of students from outside the UK passed 30% of the
total student population for the first time. The proportion of international staff has also grown rapidly,
such that a third of all our academic staff members were born outside the UK and 21% are citizens of
other countries. International partnerships and opportunities for educational and research
collaboration have resulted in more student and staff international travel and visits to and from other
institutions. The combination of these factors provides opportunities and challenges to the
University’s ambitions for equality and diversity in its community.
Aligning E&D to Vision 2020 as set out in the cover report to Council will ensure that the University
can meet the demands of a growing global community.
2. University Equality and Diversity objectives
In July 2013 Council endorsed six E&D objectives (Table 1). Updates on each objective are
provided below.
Table 1 - Objectives for Equality and Diversity 2013-14
Objectives for 2013/14 section
1. Develop and embed E&D governance structures. 2.1
2. Considering implications for E&D through Internationalisation and Good
Campus Relationships.
2.2
3. Continuing work on overcoming the ‘glass ceiling’ for women by
supporting the promotions agenda and establishing training and
development activities for women.
2.3
4. Progressing Athena SWAN across the University and planning to achieve a
silver University award in 2015.
2.4
5. Further explore and identify action to be taken on addressing the
differences in experience and outcomes for minority ethnic students
compared to white students, linking to the Widening Participation project
2.5
6. Developing leadership capacity to promote wellbeing and healthy working
environments.
2.6
2.1. Governance
The new E&D Advisory Committee to the University Executive Group is established and
membership includes the Provost, Pro Vice-Chancellor International, the Registrar (vacant),
Director of HR, the chair of the University’s Athena SWAN self-assessment team (the Dean of
2
Medicine) and the University Diversity Champion (the Dean of Business and Law). This has allowed
for an increasingly strategic approach to E&D across the University.
The Committee meets three times a year and drives forward the overall University approach to
E&D.
2.2. Global Diversity - International E&D issues
Progress is being made in transforming the University to meet the needs of our changing student
and staff population.
The presence of such a significant proportion of international staff and students represents a
significant diversification of the University community. This offers opportunities to provide an
increasingly multicultural and international experience for all associated with the University. At
the same time, challenges arise in terms of the integration of international students. International
students generally report a less satisfactory experience than UK students, with particular
concerns regarding making friends and other aspects of social integration. Work is underway to
improve the integration of international students and the Southampton Welcome has been a
significant step to improve the initial introduction of all new students into the University
community.
Faith provision, particularly for students and staff practicing Islam for Friday prayers, is under
review. In 2011/12 the existing prayer room was extended as a joint project between the
Students’ Union and the University. This was strongly welcomed at the time and in 2012/13 the
University scored very highly for its overall faith provision in the i-Barometer survey of
international students compared with other participating universities in the UK and worldwide. As
international student numbers have continued to grow, as well as the numbers of British Muslim
students, the prayer space is at maximum capacity and the University will be reviewing is
approach to providing space for all faiths and religions over the next couple of years..
Academically, international students are admitted on the same basis and to the same standards
as the overall student population; there is no evidence of inequality during this process. However,
as the international student population has grown, there is evidence across the UK of a growing
proportion of international students earning degrees classified as 2:1 or lower. This differs with
the general view that international students are as likely as the rest of the cohort to achieve a first
class degree. This will need further investigation to see if the University will need to take any
actions in the future.
These issues were identified over 2013 and will need to be addressed as part of the Education
and International plans as they are developed.
2.3. Glass Ceiling for Women
A programme of work to improve the opportunities for women to move into Levels 6 and 7 has
been undertaken over the last three years.
Graph 1 below shows that from 2008/9 to 2013/14 there have been incremental improvements in
the percentage of women at levels four and above.
Although these improvements have been small, Southampton is in line with the national average.
HESA data for 2012/13 show that 22% of professorial-level staff across the UK are women, while
55% of all other university staff are women. We also lead on the Russell Group average, where 20%
of professorial-level staff are women; 54% for all other staff.
3
Graph 2 below shows that there has been a narrowing of the gap between male and female
application and success rates at Level 6, leading to similar success rates at achieving promotion.
66.8%
76.3%
48.3% 44.6%
33.7%
18.4%
70.5%
48.5%
73.2%
47.2%
35.6%
22.9%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Level 1a Level 1b Level 2a Level 2b Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6 Level 7
Graph 1: Percentage of women at each level in 2008/09 and 2013/14 (all job families)
2008/09 2013/14
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
2 0 1 0 / 1 1 2 0 1 1 / 1 2 2 0 1 2 / 1 3 2 0 1 3 / 1 4
AP
PLI
CA
TIO
N/S
UC
CES
S R
ATE
NU
MB
ER O
F A
PP
LIC
ATI
ON
S/P
RO
MO
TIO
NS
Graph 2: Applications and promotions to Level 6, 2011-2014
Applications Promotions M application rate
F application rate M success rate F success rate
4
Graph 3 above shows there has been an overall increase in the number of women applying for
promotion to Level 7 and work continues to narrow the gap between the success rates for men
and women. This includes development programmes for women such as Springboard; an increase
in transparency of the promotions process and interview skills training for those shortlisted have
all assisted women in their ambition for promotion.
In addition, the rollout of the University’s Reward Project, which addresses E&D issues as part of
its remit, will provide a more transparent and cohesive framework for appraisal and career
development. E&D issues including awareness of unconscious bias have been integrated into
appraisal training for staff.
2.4. Athena SWAN
Athena SWAN has grown both nationally and at Southampton over the last year. Nationally, there
are 114 institutions signed-up to the Athena SWAN Charter. Of those, 71 have Athena SWAN
awards with 252 departmental Athena SWAN awards between them.
Four universities have an institutional Silver award: Queen’s University Belfast, Nottingham,
Imperial College and Warwick. Seven departments have Gold awards: two at QUB, two at York and
one each at Imperial, Cambridge and Edinburgh.
At Southampton has a Bronze award and all STEMM faculties and academic units are now engaged
with Athena SWAN, (with the exception of the Optoelectronics Research Centre).
The Faculty of Medicine applied for a Silver award in April and were unsuccessful and are
currently preparing for resubmission in 2015. Five other academic units/faculties are also
preparing Silver submissions over 2014/15.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
2 0 1 0 / 1 1 2 0 1 1 / 1 2 2 0 1 2 / 1 3 2 0 1 3 / 1 4
AP
PLI
CA
TIO
N/S
UC
CES
S R
ATE
NU
MB
ER O
F A
PP
LIC
ATI
ON
S/P
RO
MO
TIO
NS
Graph 3: Applications and promotions to Level 7, 2011-2014
Applications Promotions M application rate
F application rate M success rate F success rate
5
Departmental awards – June 2014 Award level
New
ap
plicatio
ns
(2
01
4-2
015
)
Geography and Environment Bronze
Mathematical Sciences Bronze
Physics and Astronomy Bronze
Psychology Bronze
Aw
ard
ho
ld
ers
Biological Sciences Bronze
Ap
plyin
g fo
r Silver u
pg
rad
e
(2
01
4-2
015
)
Faculty of Medicine Bronze
Faculty of Health Sciences Bronze
Electronics and Computer Science Bronze
Chemistry Bronze
Ocean and Earth Science Bronze
Faculty of Engineering and the
Environment Bronze
2.5. Black and minority ethnic (BME) student attainment
Analysis last year showed some concerns about the attainment levels of BME students. It was
agreed that this issue should be looked at in further detail. A more detailed report undertaken by
the SAA Management Information team shows that:
BME representation at UG level is increasing year-on-year:
% BME UG students by faculty 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13
Business and Law 15% 17% 18%
Engineering and Environment 10% 11% 14%
Health Sciences 8% 9% 10%
Humanities 7% 8% 8%
Medicine 27% 25% 27%
Natural and Environmental Sciences 8% 9% 9%
Physical Sciences and Engineering 11% 11% 14%
Social and Human Sciences 11% 13% 15%
6
UG progression and classification suggests that BME students are less likely to progress and
less likely to achieve higher classifications of degrees. Black students are less likely to achieve
a 1st
class degree and less likely to progress than any other ethnic group; however, many black
students choose to study within Health Sciences where progression and degree classification
are low.
BME students are slightly more likely at UG level to have mental health difficulties than white
students. However, at PG level there is little variation between BME and white students.
The numbers of BME students at PG level has not changed over the past three years. At PG
level BME students make up 9 per cent of the total student body compared to 13 per cent at
UG level.
Overall, the University is successfully attracting more BME students. The next step will be to
explore further what factors are affecting the BME student experience where concerns have been
highlighted.
2.6. Developing leadership capacity to promote wellbeing and healthy working environments
Over the last year a number of initiatives have taken place to raise the profile of the wellbeing of
our staff and students. A greater emphasis has been given to mental health issues since stigma
still exists in this area, and impacts on stress levels and ability to carry out work.
Progress in 2014 includes:
The Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor, with SUSU, has signed the Time to Change
Pledge on behalf of the University. Time to Change is an initiative that aims to break
down the stigma associated with mental health issues. http://www.time-to-
change.org.uk/
UEG have had a dedicated session with an external expert on mental health and
developing organisational strategy to improve their awareness of mental health issues.
An annual Wellbeing Day is now established; the first was held in 2013 and another has
been held on November 4th
2014.
The Senior Leadership Development Programme has the Psychology of Leadership as one
of its elements.
Training has been delivered to key staff on invisible disabilities.
Building on progress in 2013/14, a more detailed and resourced programme will be developed
for implementation in 2014/15.
3. Conclusion
The next few years will be focused on further improving gender equality through the Athena SWAN
programmes. In the future this work will need to be broadened beyond STEMM areas.
The ability to recruit high-calibre international students and provide them with an excellent
academic and extra-curricular experience while they are at university is key to achieving the
growth demanded by the Vision 2020 strategy. In the longer term, it is also key to growing the
University’s international reputation. .
In order to be fit for purpose in an increasingly globally diverse university, it is essential that
progress is made in integrating E&D into the plans to deliver Vision 2020.
Report Author: Kamaljit Kerridge-Poonia
Telephone: 023 8059 2945
Email: [email protected]
Appendix 2
Report Title: Annual Diversity Monitoring Report 2013/14 – staff and student demographic data
From: Equality & Diversity Team (Human Resources) Date: 8 October 2014
This report provides an overview of the demographics of staff and students of the University of Southampton
for the 2013/14 academic year. Overall, the figures presented here are commensurate with those of other
higher education institutions in the UK and in the Russell Group. We have seen an improvement in women
progressing to higher pay grades and an increase in the representation of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME)
staff in senior positions over the last three years. However, our non-academic staff do not appear to represent
the local population in terms of disability and ethnicity. For students, there continues to be significant
variation in gender balance between faculties and disciplines, but there is progress towards equality. More
than a quarter of all students are from outside the UK.
Staff and students are shown by gender, ethnicity, disability, age, religion/belief and sexual orientation
according to their employment or programme of study on 1st
December 2013. Comparisons are also made
throughout with other institutions in the UK and the Russell Group (using 2012/13 HESA data – the latest
available), 2011 census data and (for staff) with previous academic years using the same 1st
December
snapshot date.
All figures presented here are Full Person Equivalent (FPE) rounded to the nearest 5 to protect individuals’
identities. Percentages are calculated from unrounded figures. FPE1
is the measure used by HESA and Athena
SWAN applicants to approximate headcount. It includes all posts that an individual may hold without counting
a whole individual more than once. This provides a more robust picture of the University’s people than the
headcount figures used in previous reports and figures remain comparable with headcount at faculty and
academic unit level. The monitoring of trends from this data should not be affected.
Summary of staff findings
The University employed 5,865 individuals on 1st
December 2013. This makes the University of
Southampton the 15th
largest HE employer in the UK; 14th
in the Russell Group.
At levels 4, 6 and 7 there has been an increase in the percentage of women over three years (see
Figure 3). However, the changes are small (two percentage points’ change or less) and the ‘glass
ceiling’ effect remains prevalent. This is not as significant for MSA employees, of whom 55% are
female at Level 7.
The percentage of staff who identify with Black or Minority Ethnic (BME) ethnicities is similar to other
HEIs and national census data. However, 6.2% of MSA staff and 7.8% of TAE staff identify as BME (see
Figure 5) compared to 14.0% of the population of Southampton, suggesting that these job families
are not representative of the local community.
There has been a steady increase in the proportion of CLIN and ERE staff that identify as BME, from
14% to 17% in the past three years. Representation at senior levels has also improved (see Figure 6),
from 5.7% to 8.5% of Level 7 staff and 9.4% to 10.8% at Level 6.
1
FPE is explained fully at https://www.hesa.ac.uk/component/content/article?id=2923.
2
BME staff are more likely to be employed on fixed-term contracts (38% of BME staff on FTC) compared
to White staff (25%) or those who have not disclosed their ethnicity (18%). However, this could be a
reflection of the higher percentage of Level 4 staff that are BME (where the majority of staff are fixed-
term) compared to the higher grades.
Non-disclosure of disability status remains a key issue for staff, as the percentage of staff with an
unknown disability status (7.3%) is nearly double the percentage of staff who have disclosed a
disability (3.8%; see Figure 8). Disclosure is low compared to the population of Southampton (7.7%
consider themselves to be limited “a lot” by a health condition or disability).
Staff disclosure remains low for sexual orientation and religion/belief (67% of staff are unknown),
although it has improved since introduction in 2011. Of those who responded, 3% identified as
lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB), 37% identified as atheist, agnostic or not religious and 36% identified
as Christian.
Summary of student findings
There were 23,500 students enrolled on 1st
December 2013: 16,435 undergraduate, 4,260
postgraduate-taught and 2,805 postgraduate-research students (see Figure 2). There were 10,360
students in their first year of study. This makes Southampton the UK’s 40th
largest undergraduate
educator (14th
in the Russell Group) and the 17th
largest postgraduate educator (14th
in the Russell
Group).
Three faculties demonstrate a clear gender bias in their student cohorts (see Figure 4): Engineering
and the Environment and Physical Sciences and Engineering are less than 21% female, while Health
Sciences is less than 11% male. Each of these faculties has one or more Athena SWAN teams (except
ORC) and will be reviewing their student gender balance as part of this.
Disclosure of a disability is much higher for students (8.3%) than for staff and the most commonly
cited condition is dyslexia (44% of disabled students; see Figure 9)2
. This is commensurate with
census data.
Student declaration of sexual orientation and religion/belief is much higher than for staff due to the
annual enrolment process However, more students (around 25%) chose “prefer not to say” for these
questions compared to ethnicity, nationality and disability. Of those who did respond to these
questions, 3% identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB), 39% said they have no religion/belief, 25%
identified as Christian and 4% identified as Muslim.
Further analysis
In terms of employment (see Figure 1), the COO’s PSG was the largest organisational group with 1,095
employees and Medicine was the largest faculty (935 employees); Health Sciences was the smallest faculty
(250 employees). In addition to the typical faculties/PSGs, there were 130 employees in the Central group and
Halls. The largest group of staff across the University was ERE Level 4 at 985 individuals.
2
The nature of staff disabilities are collected, but few staff disclose so this cannot be reasonably reported.
3
Figure 1 Number of staff in each faculty by job family in the 2013/14 academic year
Most students (see Figure 2) were enrolled on programmes in the Faculty of Social & Human Sciences (4,580)
closely followed by Business & Law (4,100); the faculty with the fewest students was Medicine (1,560). The
Faculty of Business and Law has the most postgraduate students (most of them PGT), while Medicine has the
fewest.
Figure 2 Number of students in each faculty by level of study in the 2013/14 academic year
Gender
Staff: Overall, 52% of staff are female. The MSA job family is mostly female (71%), CAO is roughly equal (52%)
while more than half of ERE staff are male (40% of ERE staff are female). The percentage of staff that are
female generally falls by pay grade (see Figure 3), from 75% at Level 2a, 52% at Level 4 to 23% at Level 7.
There has been little change for the past three years, although Levels 4, 6 and 7 have seen small increases in
female percentage, while Level 5 has decreased.
The Registrar’s PSG has the highest percentage of female employees (77%) and the Faculty of Health Sciences
has the highest for a faculty (77%). Physical Sciences and Engineering has the lowest percentage (18%),
though it has seen a steady increase in the past three years from 11%.
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200
Business & Law
Engineering and the Environment
Health Sciences
Humanities
Medicine
Natural & Environmental Sciences
Physical Sciences & Engineering
Social & Human Sciences
PSG COO
PSG Registrar
Central
Halls
CAO
CLIN
ERE
MSA
RESN
TAE
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
Business & Law
Engineering and the Environment
Health Sciences
Humanities
Medicine
Natural & Environmental Sciences
Physical Sciences & Engineering
Social & Human Sciences
UG
PGT
PGR
4
Figure 3 Percentage of staff that are female by grade from 2011/12 to 2013/14
Students: The percentage of students that are female is 54% overall, with 54% female students at
undergraduate level, 64% at postgraduate-taught and 43% at postgraduate-research level. Health Sciences has
the highest percentage of female students (92% at UG; 74% PGR) and Physical Sciences & Engineering has the
lowest (14% UG, 28% PGT and 20% PGR).
Female students are no more likely to study part-time than male students, but the high number of female
students in Health Sciences makes this the largest part-time cohort (at 635 students) across the University.
Figure 4 Percentage of students that are female in each faculty by level of study for the 2013/14 academic
year
Ethnicity
Staff: Overall, 655 (11%) staff members identify as one of the Black or Minority Ethnic (BME) ethnicities. The
largest BME ethnicity is Asian (excluding Chinese) with 235 staff (4.0% of all staff), followed by Chinese with
170 staff (2.9%). Most BME staff are in the ERE job family with 400 individuals, representing 15% of all ERE
staff. The CAO job family is 14% BME, but double that number of CAO staff have not disclosed their ethnicity,
so this could be much higher.
The overall proportion of BME staff is similar to other HEIs and the national population. However, only 6.2% of
MSA staff and 7.8% of TAE staff identify as BME, while the population of Southampton is 14.0% BME and
Hampshire and the Isle of Wight is 6.8% BME.
31
%
69
%
50
%
75
%
72
%
67
%
51
%
48
%
34
%
21
%30
%
70
%
49
%
74
%
72
%
65
%
53
%
47
%
34
%
22
%
31
%
71
%
50
%
75
%
71
%
64
%
52
%
46
%
35
%
23
%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Clinical Level 1a Level 1b Level 2a Level 2b Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6 Level 7
2011/12 2012/13 2013/14
65%
21%
92%
61%
55%
48%
14%
55%
71%
31%
84%
61%
79%
53%
28%
60%
43%
28%
74%
58%
58%
42%
20%
55%
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Business & Law
Engineering and the Environment
Health Sciences
Humanities
Medicine
Natural & Environmental Sciences
Physical Sciences & Engineering
Social & Human Sciences
% UG
% PGT
% PGR
5
A greater proportion of BME staff (38%) are employed on fixed-term contracts compared to White staff (25%)
and those who have not disclosed their ethnicity (18%). This could be a consequence of the high proportion of
BME staff that are researchers compared to White and non-disclosing staff.
Figure 5 Ethnicity grouping of staff by job family for the 2013/14 academic year
Figure 6 Percentage of staff identifying as BME in each pay grade for 2011/12 to 2013/14
Students: 3,850 (31%) of students identify as BME, with the highest representation at PGT level in the
faculties of Business & Law (87%) and Physical Sciences & Engineering (83%). Most of these BME students are
from countries outside of Europe (see Figure 7). Business & Law also has the highest percentage of BME
undergraduate students (40%), although Medicine has the highest percentage of UK students that are BME
(26%). Health Sciences has the lowest percentage of BME students for undergraduates (12%) and
postgraduate-taught (9%), but very few of their students (5%) come from outside of Europe.
RESN
CLINBME15%
CLIN
TAE
CAO
CAONot known
28%
MSAWhite86%
EREBME15%
ERE
BME
White
Not known
14
%
38
%
13
%
10
%
8%
6%
16
%
10
%
9%
6%
16
%
37
%
12
%
8%
8%
7%
17
%
10
%
10
%
8%
17
%
33
%
14
%
9%
9%
6%
17
%
12
%
11
%
8%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
Clinical Level 1a Level 1b Level 2a Level 2b Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6 Level 7
2011/12 2012/13 2013/14
6
Figure 7 Percentage of students in each faculty by residency that identify as BME for the 2013/14 academic
year
Disability
Staff: About 4% of staff have disclosed a disability to the University, compared to 7% of the local population
who had their daily life affected “a lot” by a health condition or disability at the last census. Most disabled
staff are in the ERE and MSA job families (as these are the largest job families) but the percentage of staff
with a disability is marginally higher for CAO and TAE job families (5%-6% compared to 4% for ERE and MSA).
The highest percentage of staff disclosing a disability are at Level 1a (7%), and this generally decreases up the
pay grades to 3% of Level 7 staff. However, this is also true for non-disclosure: 18% of Level 1a staff have an
unknown disability status, which falls to 5% at Level 7, which makes it difficult to draw any conclusions from
this data. There has been little variation in staff disability disclosure in the past three years, and the
University should be more proactive in encouraging disability disclosure among staff.
Figure 8 Disability disclosure as a percentage of staff in each pay grade for the 2013/14 academic year
Students: Reporting is more robust for students, as all students are asked their disability status annually at
enrolment so there are no “unknowns”. Overall, 8% of students have disclosed a disability to the University.
Undergraduates in the Faculty of Health Sciences have the highest percentage of disability disclosure at 14%,
compared to around 9% for other faculties. (The Faculty of Health Sciences also has the highest percentage of
disabled staff at 6%.) Interestingly, students with a disability seem less likely to study part-time compared to
students without a disability.
21%
15%
11%
10%
26%
10%
16%
15%
6%
6%
6%
6%
14%
8%
6%
6%
95%
91%
95%
78%
94%
79%
93%
93%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50%
Business & Law
Engineering and the Environment
Health Sciences
Humanities
Medicine
Natural & Environmental Sciences
Physical Sciences & Engineering
Social & Human Sciences
UK
EU
RoW
1.3%
6.9%
5.4% 4.9% 4.0% 4.9%
3.7% 3.1%
2.7% 2.7%
4.7%
17.5%
14.3%
8.1% 7.0%8.5%
6.7% 6.8%5.2% 4.5%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
18%
20%
% disabled
% not known
7
Figure 9 Number of students disclosing a disability by nature of disability in each faculty for the 2013/14
academic year
Age
Staff: The median age for all staff is 42 and the largest age group of staff is 26-35. Ages vary with job family
and pay grade: ERE has the greatest range of ages (22 to 79) and Level 1b has the greatest range for a pay
grade (18 to 71). There appears to be a positive correlation between median age and pay grades 4-7, as the
median age increases from 35 at Level 4 to 54 at Level 7 (see Figure 10). Conversely, there is a negative
correlation with grades 1a-3, where the median age decreases from 50 at Level 1a to 40 at Level 3, although
staff ages are more spread at these lower grades so this correlation is weaker.
Most faculties have a similar range of ages (with approximately 50% of their staff in the 30-55 age range), but
Health Sciences has the smallest age range with half of their staff between 34 and 53 years old. Staff
employed full-time on fixed-term contracts are the youngest, with a median age of 32 and half of all these
staff aged between 29 and 38, although the oldest University employee is also in this group.
Figure 10 Graph showing the spread of ages for all staff in each pay grade for the 2013/14 academic year
Students: Students are classified as mature if they are 21 or older when they begin their programme. 2,735
undergraduate students (17%) met this criteria in 2013/14, with the largest cohort in Health Sciences (58% of
UG students were mature) then Medicine (26%). The majority of postgraduate students are mature on entry,
although there were 35 postgraduate-taught students who were younger than 21 when they began their
programme. Fewer than 5 young students study part-time across all programmes, while 17% of mature
students study part-time (see Figure 11).
0 100 200 300 400 500
Business & Law
Engineering and the Environment
Health Sciences
Humanities
Medicine
Natural & Environmental Sciences
Physical Sciences & Engineering
Social & Human Sciences
Dyslexia
Mental health
Multiple
Other
Per-ceptive
Wheel-chair
15
25
35
45
55
65
75
85
Clinical Level 1a Level 1b Level 2a Level 2b Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6 Level 7
8
Figure 11 Percentage of young and mature students in each faculty that study part-time for the 2013/14
academic year
Religion/belief and sexual orientation
Staff: Looking only at individuals that have completed the field for religion or belief, the majority of staff
identify as Christian (35%), 23% have no religion or belief and another 24% identify as Atheist or Agnostic.
10% opted not to disclose their religion or belief.
For sexual orientation, 86% of staff identified as homosexual (straight) and 11% chose “prefer not to say”. Of
the remaining 3%, 2% chose gay or lesbian and 1% chose bisexual. Less than 5 staff identified with another
sexual orientation.
Students: The largest option chosen by students for religion/belief is no religion (39%), followed by Christian
(26%) then “prefer not to say” (23%). 4% of students identify as Muslim, while Buddhist and “Others” had a 2%
share each.
Students were least willing to disclose their sexual orientation compared to other monitoring questions: 25%
chose “prefer not to say”. 72% identified as heterosexual (straight), leaving a similar 3% of students who
identified as gay or lesbian, bisexual or another identity (1% in each category).
The University needs to act more proactively to inform staff and students of why we collect this information
and to encourage individuals to share this information with us. The high proportion of “prefer not to say”
selections for religion/belief and sexual orientation suggests that individuals do not trust the University with
this information, or that they do not understand why it may be useful for monitoring our performance. There
may also be greater concerns for international students, who may not want this information reaching people
at home. It is important that the University can assure these students of the confidentiality with which we
hold this information.
Alexander Melhuish
Direct tel: +44 (0)23 8059 3207
0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45%
Business & Law
Engineering and the Environment
Health Sciences
Humanities
Medicine
Natural & Environmental Sciences
Physical Sciences & Engineering
Social & Human Sciences
Young % PT
Mature % PT