Tie bonuses to race equality, says SOAS head

Universities have been “incredibly complacent” about tackling the black and minority ethnic student attainment gap, but linking staff bonuses to race equality targets could help, the director of SOAS University of London has said.

Labour peer Valerie Amos made the claim at the University of Cambridge’s annual race equality lecture, Race and Merit—Dismantling the myths, which she delivered on 23 October. 

According to Hesa data from 2016-17, analysed in an Advance HE report, 79.6 per cent of white students received a first or a 2:1 compared with 66 per cent of BME students, representing a degree attainment gap of 13.6 percentage points.