Nov 14, 2019

The NUS has recently published a study titled “Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic student attainment at UK universities:# closingthegap”.  

(Universities, U. K. (2019). Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic student attainment at UK universities:# closingthegap. London: Universities UK, 2.)

This study states that “BAME students do not do as well at university compared with their White counterparts – the latest statistics show a 13% attainment gap”.

The University of Huddersfield has been working with Oldfield Consultancy to crunch the existing data on the attainment gap. We have found that BAME is a categorisation that does not lend itself to a full appreciation of the data available and therefore the data was broken down into more granular categories. Cutting through the complexity of big data to distill it into contextual, realistic, and informative nuggets made the overall project extremely valuable in terms of insight. Using the distilled data conclusions with the societal context gained from students has produced a very powerful result. The resulting findings are to be presented to the board to implement strategies that will reduce the attainment gap.

As a result of this study, recommendations have been made concerning how data can be collected in future to enhance the already existing big data available.

This is an excellent project that not only works with our ethical responsibility to ensure all students receive a good education but that displays our expertise in statistical, behavioural, and contextual methodologies.