[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”off” specialty=”on” _builder_version=”3.17.6″][et_pb_column type=”2_3″ specialty_columns=”4″][et_pb_row_inner admin_label=”Row” _builder_version=”3.17.6″][et_pb_column_inner type=”4_4″ saved_specialty_column_type=”2_3″][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=”3.17.6″ featured_placement=”above” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.17.6″]<\/p>\n
This month, July, marks the start of the 12-month countdown to the University\u2019s next Race Equality Charter<\/a> (REC) submission. As a University, we stand firm in our commitment to REC and to progressing race equality and equity for all.<\/p>\n What is REC?<\/strong><\/p>\n The University has been part of REC since its inception in 2015 and our previous submissions in 2015 and 2018<\/a> received Bronze awards in recognition of our robust foundation for eliminating racial inequalities, developing inclusive cultures and moving from commitment to sustainable and integrated bold and ambitious action*. We re-stated our intention to accelerate progress in the Race Matters report<\/a> in 2020.<\/p>\n For us, REC provides a framework for engagement, critical self-assessment and action planning on race (in)equality. Adopting this framework allows us to identify our own good practice and areas for further positive action. We can benchmark ourselves against other Higher Education Institutions, including those in the Russell Group, and make our commitment to race equality clear internally and externally with formal accreditation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Ultimately, when utilised effectively, REC is an institution-wide commitment to and mechanism for meaningful change.<\/p>\n To realise the full impact of REC for our University, we must critique our own motivations and actions in the context of REC. Have we utilised the opportunity that REC presents sufficiently in the past to drive progress? Are all staff and student voices heard and represented equally? Is there genuine buy-in and accountability for race equality at all levels?<\/p>\n These questions, considerations and reflections are equally relevant for the University\u2019s other equality chartermarks \u2013 Athena Swan<\/a> (gender), Disability Business Forum (within which Disability Confident<\/a> is covered) and Stonewall<\/a> (sexual orientation). The University will make submissions for all these chartermarks in 2023, so now is the time to get our approach right, be clear on why we undertake these chartermark submissions and how we can better utilise them as mechanisms for change, rather than being goal-orientated towards accreditation.<\/p>\n Plan of action<\/strong><\/p>\n Our plans for the submission process and beyond are developing. A key part of our REC preparations will be about engaging with our staff and students to hear their experiences. This has been a prominent feature in the development of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy which will launch later this year, and we will continue with this approach.<\/p>\n Invaluable insights gained from staff and student surveys, feedback from the University\u2019s EDI conference in May and focus groups will feed into our submission to highlight where progress has been made as well as where ongoing barriers, differential experiences and discrimination still exist, and action is needed. Staff and student voices will inform the action plan developed as part of the REC process to ensure that the University is <\/em>a great place of work and study for all<\/em> its staff and students.<\/p>\n Get involved<\/strong><\/p>\n We want to hear from colleagues and students from all ethnic groups. The REC survey will launch in the autumn \u2013 please do take the time to complete it. Focus groups will also run in the next academic year. If you would like to hear more about taking part in a focus group, please complete this short expression of interest form<\/a>\u00a0for staff and students. Full details about the survey and focus groups will be shared on StaffNet and with students later this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Please be assured that your views will be heard and will feed into meaningful actions that will bring about change for the better.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Our race equality journey<\/strong><\/p>\n Our work surrounding EDI is a continuous endeavour that we can all be contributing to. REC presents an essential opportunity for critical self-reflection as an organisation. It allows us to pause for thought and consider: Have we made progress? Is it enough? What has been the impact of our EDI and race equality initiatives?<\/p>\n Several actions have been undertaken as a result of our last REC 2018 submission and our Race Matters action plans, including:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Our Commitment<\/strong><\/p>\n We will report action taken and evidence of impact in the REC submission to support our case for a Silver award. If successful, we could be the first university to achieve this recognition.<\/span><\/p>\n We recognise that we need to do more to ensure equity of opportunity and a truly inclusive experience for all members of our University community. Progress and change are often too slow and we need to move at pace.<\/p>\n We understand that the pace of change can cause frustration, disengagement and distrust of the University for underrepresented and marginalised groups. We have to be prepared to hear the good, the bad and the uncomfortable through our staff and student consultation and to genuinely listen to the experiences of our colleagues and students.<\/p>\n While we must give greater focus to our race equality work \u2013 with REC providing one mechanism for this – we will move beyond a siloed approach of considering groups, characteristics and chartermarks in isolation. This hinders overall progress towards equity for all and fails to recognise the multiple identities that each of us hold. An intersectional approach is not only required for our chartermarks but is essential in understanding and enhancing the nuanced experiences of our staff and students.<\/p>\n We cannot meaningfully undertake this work without the important voices of our staff and student communities; ‘no decision about us, without us’ epitomises our ethos in approach and engagement**. If you would like to share your experiences in a focus group, please complete this short expression of interest form<\/a>. We are ready to listen.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Dawn Edge is Professor of Mental Health and Inclusivity, The University of Manchester\u2019s Academic Lead for Race, Religion and Belief and Chair of the REC self-assessment team (SAT).<\/strong><\/p>\n Banji Adewumi MBE is Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at The University of Manchester and a member of the REC SAT.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n * This definition of the REC Bronze award level<\/a> comes from Dr Arun Verma, Head of the Race Equality Charter at Advance HE.<\/p>\n ** This wording and approach is taken from the NHS policy document, Liberating the NHS<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=”3.17.6″ prev_text=”Previous” next_text=”Next” in_same_term=”off” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=”3.17.6″ custom_button=”on” button_text_color=”#ffffff” locked=”on” \/][et_pb_text admin_label=”Related posts” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ locked=”on”]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=”Subscribe” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ area=”et_pb_widget_area_3″ locked=”on” \/][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=”3.17.6″ area=”sidebar-1″ show_border=”off” locked=”on” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" July marks the start of the 12-month countdown to our next Race Equality Charter submission as we stand firm in our commitment to progressing race equality and equity for all. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":521,"featured_media":3689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"[et_pb_section bb_built=\"1\" fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\"][et_pb_column type=\"2_3\" specialty_columns=\"4\"][et_pb_row_inner admin_label=\"Row\"][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\" saved_specialty_column_type=\"2_3\"][et_pb_post_title _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" featured_placement=\"above\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_text _builder_version=\"3.17.6\"]\r\n\r\n When I\u2019m out and about meeting staff I hear much debate about the why, what, when and how of change in our University. I wanted to share my thoughts on this often contentious topic \u2013 and hear your views too.<\/p> Early in 2020 we will launch our University\u2019s new vision and strategic plan \u2013 Our future. In order to fulfil Our future we need to ensure that we are in a financially sustainable position so that we have the funds to invest in the new staff, facilities and infrastructure which will be needed to bring our plans to life.<\/p> Our Financial Statements<\/a> for 2018\/19, which have been published following approval by the Board of Governors, confirm that more than 95% of our \u00a31.1bn income is spent on our core goals - on our staff and our students - to deliver research, education and social responsibility; with the remainder invested in the long term sustainability of our University. You can find a summary<\/a> of the Financial Statements on StaffNet.<\/p> However, this is a testing time for UK universities, due to the many external factors that have an impact on us - current home tuition fees are falling in real terms, whilst our costs (not just pay but non-pay too) are increasing. There are further and even greater tuition fee funding risks outlined in General Election manifestos as well as a range of Brexit-related risks that could affect our operations. The Office for Students (OfS) demands that we demonstrate both value for money for our students and our financial sustainability (in the sense of being able to invest to deliver our ambitious strategy, rather than survival). There are, of course, also ongoing unresolved national issues around pay and the continuing challenges around funding pensions in the higher education sector.<\/p> Our Financial Statements show an improved operating surplus (3.7% of income compared to \u00a324.7m (2.3%) in 2017\/18), with a rise in income from tuition fees, education contracts and research. As I mentioned earlier, we re-invest the surplus we achieve each year in activity in line with our strategy. Recently our funds have been used to create some new academic and Professional Services posts; to invest in key infrastructure including IT; to invest in some new buildings like our student accommodation at Unsworth Park; to improve the student experience by funding more full-time Residential Life staff and to upgrade a range of buildings and research and teaching spaces and resources. Increasingly it is also invested in environmental sustainability and meeting our ambitious carbon targets. So even when we are making difficult decisions in some parts of the University we continue to invest our surplus.<\/p> Whilst we have reported an operating surplus, our Board of Governors expects us to deliver a much larger surplus than this (at least 5%) if we are to be sustainable in the long-term. Our strategic change programme (including IT Modernisation<\/a>, the Student Experience Programme<\/a>, and the Research Lifecycle Programme<\/a>), alongside our continuous improvement plans, will ensure that we create the financial headroom to invest in people and facilities. The strategic change programme will also enable us to embrace new technologies and new ways of doing things that better support all our staff and students to be the best that they can be.<\/p> Yes, this means that some individual roles will change. New roles (some that we haven\u2019t yet identified) will be created and some roles will no longer be required. I appreciate that this will cause some uncertainty and where that is the case we will do everything we can to support staff, but the alternative is that we never change anything. If we fail to take advantage of advances in technology and develop more joined-up ways of working we will ultimately find ourselves outdated in the eyes of future students, funders and other stakeholders. Staff want to work for a progressive and successful institution, of which they can be proud. This means we cannot stand still.<\/p> When I talk to staff and students I often hear their frustrations about how difficult it be can be to get some straightforward things done, grappling with paper-based, manual and repetitive processes, on outdated systems and infrastructure, all of which serves to increase staff workloads. Everyone wants to do a good job, but regularly feel that our world-class status is earned in spite of our internal systems and processes, not because of them.<\/p> To deliver our new vision and strategic plan we will need to embrace new opportunities and face challenges with courage and determination. That will sometimes mean we have to make tough decisions and no-one is claiming it will be easy or that mistakes will not be made along the way. But where we do have tough choices to make we will commit to implementing changes fairly and with compassion to support the wellbeing of all our colleagues.<\/p>\r\n\r\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" prev_text=\"Previous\" next_text=\"Next\" in_same_term=\"off\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_comments _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" custom_button=\"on\" button_text_color=\"#ffffff\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Related posts\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" locked=\"on\"]\r\n\r\n [related-posts-thumbnails]<\/p>\r\n\r\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column_inner][\/et_pb_row_inner][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_3\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Subscribe\" _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" area=\"et_pb_widget_area_3\" locked=\"on\" \/][et_pb_sidebar _builder_version=\"3.17.6\" area=\"sidebar-1\" show_border=\"off\" locked=\"on\" \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_section]","_et_gb_content_width":"","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3416","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-edi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/521"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3416"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3696,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3416\/revisions\/3696"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.manchester.ac.uk\/viewpoint\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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Related<\/h1>\n
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Ad\u00e8le MacKinlay: Reflections on a privileged life<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
Stephanie Lee: Improving outcomes for talented students from all backgrounds during a pandemic<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a>
Dawn Edge, Jackie Carter and Rachel Cowen: Advancing equality for all - why our charter marks and aw...<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div>
Improving our financial performance will help to deliver our ambitious future plans, but we must also increase our capacity to create the funds and time to invest in our core goals. One of the ways we can do this is by changing what we do and how we do things.<\/p>Related<\/h1>\r\n