Liberalism and race equality in higher education: the shift from the mandatory to the persuasive

Andrew Pilkington, Melanie Crofts

Research output: Contribution to Book/ReportConference Contributionpeer-review

Abstract

This paper examines a twenty year period to explore the salience of race equality in higher education in the UK. While research evidence accumulates to demonstrate that staff and students from minority ethnic groups continue to experience considerable disadvantage, universities throughout the period have typically remained remarkably complacent. Such complacency partly stems from the dominance in the academy of a liberal as opposed to radical perspective on equality. Universities typically see themselves as liberal and believe existing policies ensure fairness and in the process ignore adverse outcomes and do not see combating racial inequalities as a priority. The paper distinguishes two ideal typical approaches, the ‘mandatory’ and the ‘persuasive’ to the promotion of race equality and suggests that the period has witnessed the transition along a continuum from the mandatory to the persuasive. Regardless of which approach is preferred, universities are urged to have no truck with a deficit model and to see it as their responsibility to take action to ensure more equitable outcomes.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHEAd' 17: Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Higher Education Advances
EditorsJosep Domenech i Soria, Marai Cinta Vincent Vela, Elena De la Poza, Desamparados Blazquez
Place of PublicationValencia, Spain
PublisherEditorial Universitat Politecnica de Valencia
Pages239-247
Number of pages9
ISBN (Print)9788490485903
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2017
Event3rd International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'17) - Valencia, Spain
Duration: 21 Jun 2017 → …
http://www.headconf.org/

Conference

Conference3rd International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'17)
Period21/06/17 → …
Internet address

Keywords

  • Equality and diversity
  • Race and ethnicity
  • Higher education
  • Educational policy

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