About - HEAwardGap.org.uk

Welcome to UK Higher Education Award Gap Group

This repository, generously funded by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA), has been developed to share resources and actions associated with closing racialised award gaps prevalent in UK Higher Education institutions. This resource aims to provide HE practitioners the opportunity to replicate and develop research, support mechanisms, and interventions in their own institutional contexts, minimising duplication, and progress our commitment to eliminating racialised gaps.

We share, and invite contributions from colleagues engaged in closing racialised award and progression gaps. This may include:

Developing an inclusive student experience
Designing and evaluating support mechanisms or interventions
Enhancing employability
Modifying learning and teaching practices
Building community and student belonging
The impact of staff representation
Decolonisation practices
And many more initiatives

The site has been developed, and is maintained by, the UK Higher Education Award Gap Group. This is a collective of academics who share a common commitment to eliminating award gaps. We believe that through our shared endeavours we can make greater progress in the elimination of differential outcomes. Our aim is to work in partnership with students, academics, and professional service teams across the sector to ensure equality of opportunity for all students and the elimination of differential outcomes within our Faculties and Schools.

See how you can contribute here

Investigating the elimination of differential outcomes is a Collaborative Enhancement Project supported and funded by QAA Membership. The project is led by Manchester Metropolitan University in partnership with University of Salford, Liverpool John Moores University and University of Central Lancashire. Find out more about Collaborative Enhancement Projects on the QAA website.

Meet the team

Olatunde Durowoju

Tunde is a Senior Lecturer at the Liverpool Business School, Liverpool John Moores University. He is an award-winning academic leader and currently manages a transnational education suite of postgraduate programmes, including MBA, involving over 2000 students/year from Southeast Asia (mostly India) and the continent of Africa. Tunde is currently a principal investigator on a teaching, learning and student engagement project across the university to address equality of opportunities for all student groups. His other focus is on EDI’fying the use of AI across HE to ensure inclusivity is entrenched in the design of every AI system used in HE.

Freya Ernsting

Freya Ernsting is a Research Associate within the Faculty of Business and Law at Manchester Metropolitan University exploring the inequalities faced by students within Higher Education, and how they contribute towards a gap in degree award. She has recently been awarded the Newer Researcher Prize from the Society for Research into Higher Education to undertake a project considering the impact of both further and higher education tutor imaginings of BTEC learners upon student learner identities within higher education.

Hannah-Louise Holmes

Hannah is Dean of Business School and Deputy Pro Vice Chancellor in Business and Law at Manchester Metropolitan University, leading one of the largest Faculties in the UK. Hannah works in inclusive and collaborative ways and is passionate about helping drive and deliver change which makes a positive contribution to society, particularly amongst communities which face significant barriers.

Shobana Nair Partington

Shobana is a Head of Department in the Business School at Manchester Metropolitan University, and she has over 20 years’ experience of working in Higher Education in the UK and abroad. Shobana is also a founder member of Manchester Met’s Race Equality Charter (REC) Workforce Sub-Group and member of the Northwest Business Leadership Team (NWBLT): Diversity Drivers, to help shape and drive forward their aim to increase diversity in the most senior business positions in the Northwest. She is passionate about driving changes not only in term of student award gaps but also promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in workplace.

Sami Safadi

Sami Safadi is an Academic Tutor for postgraduate students at Salford Business School, the University of Salford. Before joining Salford Business School, he was a lecturer in Saudi Arabia in different higher education institutions. Sami is one of the BAME Inclusivity Leads in Salford Business School and works on eradicating the award gap, decolonising the curriculum, building anti-racist practices, and creating a sense of belonging for Black, Asian and ethnic minority students.