§ Lord Ouseleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will publish any relevant available information they have, with findings from any conducted surveys, concerning racial discrimination in the higher education sector, particularly with regard to the number of minority ethnic academics occupying posts in the three top ranking positions in British universities. [FIL2357]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Baroness Ashton of Upholland)Data on the ethnicity of academic staff in higher education are collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency. The Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 puts a new duty on each university and college to prepare and maintain a written statement of its race equality policy and assess the impact of its policy on students and staff of different racial groups. They must monitor, by reference to those racial groups, the admission and 43WA progression of students and the recruitment and career progress of staff, including senior staff, and publish the findings. The higher education funding councils have the statutory responsibility to monitor the ethnicity of all staff in their sectors and publish the results of their monitoring. The Equality Challenge Unit set up by the higher education funding councils and representative bodies will support higher education institutions and funding councils in carrying out their respective duties.