Universities in Scotland

Some of the world's finest minds work in Scotland's universities, looking to assist in the creation of the next generation of what will be our finest minds, in all manner of disciplines and areas of expertise.

It would appear that delivering equality is not, however, an area where our universities have access to the finest minds, or even minds which are up to delivering even an adequate performance in making equality a reality in universities as employing organisations.

Universities in Scotland have a total income, as at 2017-18, of £3.8 billion.

In 2021, research revealed that the university sector employed 47,660 people. Of these, 1,924 [4.04%] identified as disabled, 2,914 [6.11%] identified as Black Minority Ethnic people, 1,662 [3.49%] identified as Lesbian, Gay or Bisexual, and 2,132 [4.47%] identified as Catholic.

The focus in 2021 was not so much on the numbers as checking whether universities were gathering and using the data to eliminate discrimination.

On the basis of what the reports published by universities over the years has revealed, the journey towards their delivery of equality as employers has been pulled up in a lay-by for some years now, while those responsible for the data loading have still to work out whether the data is evidence of either greater equality or continuing and institutionalised discrimination.