Tag Archives: racism

Only 50 out of 14000 British Professors are Black

This means that only 0.4% of British Professors are Black compared to 2.8% of the population – (2001 data – a figure which I think is likely to be higher in the next census)

The research, carried out by Heidi Mirza, is due to be published this October. Although I find this area of reserch fascinating I might wait for that until I comment in depth on this -To my simplistic mind, I would break this down into two basic possible explanations for the under-representation

  1. black children could get fewer and/ or worse A levels and then be less likely to go to university, get PhDs and get jobs in universities
  2. For those Black people working in universities it could be that subtle institutional racism that holds them back – and if so, is it worse in some subjects than others as?

As to the former, UCAS notes that 23% of white students got three As at A level compared to 9% of black students (I’ll check this at some point – those stats can’t be right!) – this doesn’t explain the huge discrepancy mentioned above, but a higher proportion of black compared to white kids might choose not to go to university, or those that do might take earlier routes out of academia –  getting a job after graduating or after a masters qualification.

Meanwhile, Harry Goulbourne, professor of sociology at London South Bank University, suggests the later effected him –  “as a black man aspiring to be a professor, he had had to publish twice as many academic papers as his white peers. He said he had switched out of the field of politics, because it was not one that promoted minorities. He called for a “cultural shift” inside the most prestigious universities.

Heidi Mirza also appears to think that racism is at work , she says UK universities were “nepotistic and cliquey”. “It is all about who you know,” she said.