ED&I Statistics

"Across UK higher education, there are growing concerns about differential degree outcomes – also known as the awarding or attainment gap. The ethnicity degree awarding gap, the term we adopt, refers to the difference in the proportion of White and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic students awarded a ‘good’ degree (a first or upper-second class degree classification). Although the widening access to university agenda has made some progress in the ethnic diversity of the student body at many institutions, the more recent focus on student success and outcomes has highlighted a national difference of 13 percentage points in 2017/18 between ‘good’ degree outcomes of White and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic students (UUK/NUS, 2019). The ethnicity degree awarding gap varies significantly within minority ethnic groups, with the largest gap between White and Black Other students, at 28.3%, and the smallest difference between White and Chinese students (6.6%). Most worryingly, this gap exists even when controlled for prior attainment/entry grades (OfS, 2018). The degree awarding gap has implications for student entry into graduate-level jobs and post-graduate courses, as a ‘good’ degree is often the minimum requirement."

Wong at al., 2021 

University of Sheffield ED&I data 

These graphs show data of students who received a good honours degree (2:1 or above) between 2019-2021. Each graph shows a comparison of different demographics of students who achieved a good degree in Science or Engineering compared to the University of Sheffield as a whole. Please note that the number of students achieving a good degree also appears on the charts evidencing that in some cases student numbers for the samples are low. Some demographic data collection only began in 2020 which is why some charts show date from 2019 and others from 2020.

You can see the most up to date data on student outcomes and progression on the Reporting Service Hub under the Reports tab>Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. 

National data

This section includes some key ED&I data taken from National statistics for Higher Education. For a more detailed breakdown and to learn more please visit the Office for Students Website and the Universities UK website.

Highlighted disparities from the Advance HE Equality in Higher Education: statistical report 2023

• student mental health conditions are the fastest growing disability which is also mirrored in staff data

• more than half of undergraduates and postgraduate research students are female, and there is evidence to suggest that this is slowly contributing to improved representation of female professors and Heads of Institution

• narrowing of the ethnicity degree awarding gap has not been sustained, returning to pre-pandemic levels

• the proportion of first degree undergraduates awarded a first or 2:1 has decreased

• there has been a significant fall in the number of EU students in UK HE.

Taken from the Royal Academy of Engineering's Equality, diversity and inclusivity and engineering, 2013-2023: A review. You can also read more about the Royal Academy of Engineering's research on diversity and inclusion on the RAE website.

Gender:

• In 2021, only 16.5% of people in engineering roles were women.

• Women will leave engineering at twice the rate of men.

• During the 2020/21 academic year, only 18.5% of women enrolled in engineering and technology undergraduate programs.

• Women comprise only 23% of engineering and physical science students, with a starker picture in mechanical engineering (11%) and civil engineering (12%).

• Nearly half of the engineering graduates who are women securing engineering roles leave within five years.

Disability:

• In engineering and technology undergraduate programs, 10.5% of students had a known disability, compared to 15.1% in all subjects in 2020/216.

Ethnicity:

• Black women only made up 0.7% of the technology workforce in 2020.

• In highways and transportation, Black, Asian, or minority ethnic people make up less than 10% of the workforce.

• Only 11.4% of the engineering workforce is from an underrepresented ethnic group, as compared to 28.2% of the working population.

LGBTQ+:

• 28% of LGBTQ+ respondents had considered leaving the physical sciences industry because of a hostile environment or discrimination towards LGBTQ+ people

Key findings from Universities UK about what the data tells us about how things have changed since 2019. 

There’s been progress on reducing awarding gaps

• The gap between the percentage of white students and Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME term taken from source) students awarded a First or a 2:1 for their degree has reduced by 4.4 percentage points, from 13.2% for 2018 graduates to 8.8% for 2021 graduates.

• While the number of First and 2:1 degrees awarded has increased for all students, it has increased more substantially for BAME students, leading to a reduced gap.

• Reduced awarding gaps are evident across all ethnic groups, but the gap between white and Black students has seen the most substantial reduction, from 23.5% to 18.4%.

• In the academic year 2020/21, nearly 1 in 5 UK universities (18%) had an awarding gap of less than 5%, compared with just under 1 in 10 in 2017/18 (8%).

But there’s still a concerning awarding gap

• The gap between white and BAME students awarded a First for their degree is especially concerning at 9.5%, rising to 19.3% for Black students specifically.

• White students are still more likely to be awarded higher grades for their degrees than students of all other ethnicities, even when prior attainment is controlled for.

Teaching staff are less likely to be BAME 

• In the academic year 2020/21, 19% of all academic staff with a known ethnicity were BAME. Looking at staff who were UK nationals specifically, the figure is lower, at 12%.

• In 2020/21, only 16.7% of staff with a ‘teaching only’ or ‘teaching and research’ role (i.e. those most likely to be student-facing) were BAME.

• There has been some progress in increasing the proportion of BAME academic staff at different levels, although this has been limited. In 2020/21, 11.5% of professors and 8.9% of senior management were BAME, up from 10% and 6.9% respectively in 2017/18. Looking at Black staff specifically, in 2020/21 there were just 160 Black professors and 60 Black senior managers. 

• The proportion of all postgraduate students – the most obvious pipeline for academic posts – who identify as BAME has seen a slight increase since 2017/18, from 21.6% to 23%. Within this, postgraduate research (PGR) students were even less likely to be BAME (19.9% in 2020/21)

You can read more and download the report on Closing Ethnicity Degrees Awarding Gap: Three Years On from the Universities UK website.