Who benefits from policy design, and how does whiteness remain centred in decision-making? How does UAL legitimise racialised individuals as it acts out its pledge to increase the proportion of Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff, student and visiting lecturers, (University of the Arts London, n.d.) alongside other parts of its anti-racism strategy?
Addressing racism in higher education demands more than statements of intent; it requires systemic transformation. As Bradbury (2020) argues through a critical race theory (CRT) lens, education policy often maintains white dominance even when it appears neutral. Her case study of assessment policy shows how bilingual learners are disadvantaged by frameworks that assume a universal white, English-speaking standard. This reflects wider problems in curriculum and careers support, where structural whiteness is rarely named but deeply felt. For UAL and creative arts education, Burke and McManus (2009) critical examination of admissions practices in art and design higher education, revealing how these processes can perpetuate exclusion and misrecognition, particularly for students from underrepresented backgrounds. Their research highlights that admissions criteria often favour those with access to certain cultural capital, inadvertently marginalising talented individuals who may not conform to traditional expectations, thus impoverishing the arts and its workforce and new thinkers.
At UAL, the racial demographics of the student body are diverse, (based on data from the EDI report University of the Arts London 2024) , but this doesn’t guarantee equitable experience or outcomes. The awarding gap persists, and racialised students, particularly those from working-class or international backgrounds, may struggle with confidence, sense of belonging, or access to professional networks. As Garrett (2024) notes, imagined futures are shaped not only by ambition but by “perceived institutional receptivity.” Therefore, preparing staff to understand and dismantle racism in learning and employability settings is crucial, and vital to anti-racism efforts, as opposed to the passive approach of ‘not racist’. This includes challenging ideas of “professionalism” that centre whiteness (Garrett, 2024) and recognising the additional emotional and cultural labour racialised graduates undertake to “fit in.”
Garrett (2024) builds on this by examining how racialised PhD students interpret their career prospects in UK academia. Many struggle to envision futures in institutions that reflect neither their lived experience nor values. Instead, their “imagined careers” are shaped by racism, tokenism, and imposter syndrome, especially when compounded by class or gender. This resonates with UAL’s own student body: while demographically diverse, many racialised graduates I support are prone to privately question their place in industries that continue to centre whiteness as the benchmark of professionalism (Jones & Okun, 2001; Garrett, 2024), which I ought to be attuned to in my pedagogy applications.
This backlash is exemplified in Orr’s (2022) video for The Telegraph, which critiques diversity initiatives and teaching by the charity Advanced HE as ideological excess, verging on extreme for awarding efforts. Yet this rhetoric fails to engage with the realities of racial exclusion, and student interviewees praise rather than demonise the EDI strands of their education. It reflects what Brownlee (2022) calls “colour-blind racism” the claim of not “seeing race” while upholding systems that benefit white norms. By contrast, Advance HE’s (2024) strategy to 2030 outlines a coherent, evidence-informed approach to embedding equity across HE leadership, teaching, and governance, including race equity. As the provider of the course and unit, I can see how I am improving my teaching and career support pedagogies through inclusive practices.
UAL’s Anti-Racism Strategy (University of the Arts London, 2024) aims to increase the proportion of B.A.M.E staff, students, and visiting lecturers, and has succeeded in this. Now 39% for students – 12% higher than the higher education sector overall, plus 25.5% of staff, the forefront of the university’s Social Purpose efforts ought to strongly support these students and staff to come up true on its promises. This and the Decolonising Arts Institute (UAL n.d.b) aim to address these systemic issues, but gaps remain.
For example, the university does not currently report attainment gaps by religion or intersecting identity categories, despite intersectional critiques (Riedel & Rau, 2025) urging institutions to see race and faith as co-constituted aspects of marginalisation, otherwise failing to recognise the nuance within the lived experiences – My role requires helping graduates not only find jobs, but feel entitled to thrive. This means preparing staff and students to navigate industries still resistant to change. Racialised students, particularly Muslim women and visibly minoritised individuals, often report being overlooked or having to work twice as hard to prove themselves (Ramadan, 2022). This aligns with the emotional labour many graduates perform: editing accents, changing names, removing headscarves: strategies that temporarily ease passage into white-dominant spaces but erode self-worth. Brownlee (2022) underscores how such acts of conformity are misunderstood by well-meaning colleagues who claim not to “see colour,” yet benefit from being able to move freely without cultural translation.
Sadiq (2023) warns against hollow Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) strategies and urges organisations to platform those with lived experience, for inclusivity efforts to centre the voices of those affected not only to uplift them, but to avoid further harm through tokenism. He goes on to explain that modules and training only goes so far, true change can only come about if it is habitual, a continuous personal journey of growing, learning, and keeping open and connected. Channel 4’s The School That Tried to End Racism shows a playful approach to uncovering unconscious biases that lead to direct dialogue, suggesting the importance of facilitated, honest, and evidence-based interventions that create space for expanding awareness and understanding. Without this groundwork, institutions risk either defensiveness or denial when addressing racism. The playful approach is echoed in Jheni Arboine’s (Educational Developer in Academic Enhancement at UAL) Positionality Wheels Workshop (Arboine, 2023) which engages reflective practice, intersectionality, and the importance of educators examining their own position in relation to race and power through a simple crafting team workshop.
Anti-racism in education must go beyond awareness. It demands that institutions like UAL actively review how racism shows up in employability guidance, hiring pipelines, and even in the cultural assumptions of what makes a “good graduate.” The UAL Education Conference 2025 theme, Cultivating Inclusive Futures, speaks to this possibility. But real inclusion requires bravery: to listen, learn, and reshape systems that were never neutral to begin with. To truly support graduate progression, my practice must centre racial equity, not only in outcomes, but in the processes and pedagogies that shape self-belief, access, and resilience. Anti-racist practice is not optional; it’s essential to closing the opportunity gap and ensuring that all graduates are able to pursue futures that reflect their full potential, not their constrained realities.
References:
Advance HE (2024) Advance HE Strategy to 2030. Available at: https://www.advance-he.ac.uk (Accessed: 21 July 2025).
Bradbury, A. (2020) ‘A critical race theory framework for education policy analysis: The case of bilingual learners and assessment policy in England’, Race Ethnicity and Education, 23(2), pp. 241–260. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2019.1638952
Burke, P. J. and McManus, J. (2009) Art for a Few: Exclusion and Misrecognition in Art and Design Higher Education Admissions. National Arts Learning Network. Available at: https://www.culturenet.cz/coKmv4d994Swax/uploads/2015/11/Art-for-a-Few-.pdf (Accessed: 21 July 2025).
Brownlee, D. (2022) Dear white people: When you say you don’t see color, this is what we really hear. Forbes. 19 June. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/danabrownlee/2022/06/19/dear-white-people-when-you-say-you-dont-see-color-this-is-what-we-really-hear/ (Accessed: 21 July 2025).
Garrett, R. (2024) ‘Racism shapes careers: Career trajectories and imagined futures of racialised minority PhDs in UK higher education’, Globalisation, Societies and Education, pp. 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2024.2320593
Jones, K. and Okun, T. (2001) White supremacy culture. In: Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for Social Change Groups. Changework. Available at: https://www.dismantlingracism.org/ (Accessed: 21 July 2025).
Orr, J. (2022) Revealed: The charity turning UK universities woke. The Telegraph [YouTube]. 5 August. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRM6vOPTjuU (Accessed: 21 July 2025).
Ramadan, A. (2022) ‘When faith intersects with gender: The challenges and successes in the experiences of Muslim women academics’, Gender and Education, 34(1), pp. 33–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2021.1893664
Riedel, M. and Rau, V. (2025) ‘Religion and race: The need for an intersectional approach’, Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.2025.2476300 (Accessed: 21 July 2025).
University of the Arts London (n.d.a) UAL Decolonising Arts Institute. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/ual-decolonising-arts-institute (Accessed: 21 July 2025).
University of the Arts London (n.d.b) Anti-racism strategy. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/about-ual/strategy-and-governance/anti-racism-strategy (Accessed: 21 July 2025).
University of the Arts London (2024) Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Data Report 2024. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0030/472836/UAL-EDI-data-report-2024-PDFA.pdf (Accessed: 21 July 2025).
University of the Arts London (2025) Cultivating inclusive futures. UAL Education Conference 2025. Available at: https://educationconference.arts.ac.uk/2025/cultivating-inclusive-futures/ (Accessed: 21 July 2025).
Thanks for this Leila, several of your points really jumped out to me as calls to action that resonate within UAL: particularly that anti-racism ‘in higher education demands more than statements of intent’ which is a risk in all institutions, having made well intentioned commitments but operating with staff whose work is often granular and under-resourced, and who may not feel enabled or supported to address systemic and institutional inequities. I have really appreciated the space and entitlement this module has given me to tackle some legacy exclusion in resources in the library service, where some of our provision fell short of our stated intent. As you clearly state we must go ‘beyond awareness’ and surface level diversity. In my teaching environment that extends also to what we designate as “good resources”.
Thanks Grace for your comment, much appreciated <3 Thanks for having a read and giving your thoughts. As someone else going through this unit, it's interesting to see how you are seeing how this has already impacted your work, and empowers you to examine resources and avenues for further action in different spaces across the uni. I like your "good resources" reflection, as challenging and uncomfortable content can be helpful and insightful, and this can echo beyond this course, but also who decides what are good or poor resources? Especially in subjective and likely white-washed arts curriculum. The source material for this task ranged from in favour and not in favour, which helps us dissect and declare our own understanding, as we should still be critical of our own learning journey and the efforts to rectify and level the playing field personally and institutionally. After the online lecture about discomfort, it is becoming more apparent that these conversations will not be pleasant, but are well overdue, if done in the right way!
Thanks again, Grace xoxox