Equity in higher education

Find out how to ensure that all students and staff within higher education have an equal opportunity to succeed, regardless of individual challenges or varied educational backgrounds. Equity is about ensuring university support and policies enable everyone to flourish, taking into account the wide range of differing needs across a campus community, as these resources explain.

A parenting student studies with her daughter in the background

Twenty per cent of US undergraduates have children – we must do more to support them

Dedicating funds and resources to parenting students, most of whom are mothers and single, is also an investment in the prosperity of future generations, writes Sara Goldrick-Rab

Sara Goldrick-Rab

Education Northwest

Ntarama church massacre memorial in Rwanda

A case for bringing ethics of friendship and care to academic research

Friendship adds ethical and emotional dimensions that can make research equitable, sensitive, responsive and consequential to local communities, writes Noam Schimmel, based on his experiences in Rwanda

Noam Schimmel

University of California, Berkeley

Two hands, one offering up a tree growing out of the earth, the other offering up a high-rise city

Decolonisation as a driver for the Sustainable Development Goals

How decolonial approaches can underpin and drive work to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals across higher education

Eleanor Cook

The University of Exeter

A diverse team of colleagues in an online meeting

Prioritising equity in higher education: the impact of individual identities

Recommendations for improving equity in higher education, informed by research into the impact of individual identities upon staff experiences of the pandemic

Sam Illingworth, Jamie Zike

Edinburgh Napier University

Gender equality at universities is crucial for society

Strategies for higher education institutions to strengthen gender equality

Gender equality can only become possible when harmful gender norms are challenged and equality is actively promoted. Perçem Arman provides key starting points for universities

Perçem Arman

Near East University

A group of medical students stand around a patient in bed

Social justice as part of medical education

Five strategies universities can adopt to aid medical students’ understanding of and engagement with social justice principles as part of healthcare training

Priya Harindranathan

Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center

red arrow through a wall of wooden blocks

How to advance equity-informed leadership in universities

Increasing diversity at universities requires more than raising aspirations and enrolment among Indigenous and other under-represented students. Braden Hill offers seven ways leaders can address barriers to equity

Braden Hill

Edith Cowan University

Primary school children with raised hands

Raising aspirations: lessons in running a young scholars programme

Widening access to higher education for children from disadvantaged backgrounds is a priority for UK universities. Here, Valsa Koshy outlines lessons from a successful programme for primary school pupils

Valsa Koshy

Brunel University London

A robust complaints process for students working in NHS placements

Students training as health and social care workers must be supported to speak up about complaints or concerns from practice settings. Helen Carr outlines a clear process

Helen Carr

Canterbury Christ Church University

Using ChatGPT to plug the gap in student attainment and the awarding gap

How to use ChatGPT to help close the awarding gap

Academics must put their fears of AI aside and understand how it can be employed to bridge attainment gaps in their programmes, say Dean Fido and Craig Harper

Dean Fido, Craig Harper

University of Derby

Decolonising the curriculum through collaboration, partnership and dissemination

Tips on how to decolonise curricula through collaboration, partnership and dissemination, from four university educators

Multiple authors

University of Reading

Three adult students working at a shared desk

A guide to promoting equity in HE for refugees and asylum seekers

Steps that universities can take to help refugees and asylum seekers access and successfully progress through higher education

Yeşim Deveci, Claire Mock-Muñoz de Luna , Jess Oddy

University of East London

Address STEM inequality by reconceiving merit

The cultural yardsticks used to measure merit in STEM are warped with bias and often devalue women, people of colour and LGBTQ+ scientists with records equal to white heterosexual male peers. To fix STEM inequality, academia must reconceive merit

Mary Blair-Loy , Erin A. Cech

University of California San Diego , University of Michigan

Young woman pushing an older woman along in a wheelchair

An invisible minority: what is needed to support students with caring responsibilities

Students with caring responsibilities in the UK have no joined-up support. Jessica Iyamu and Ellie Brown make a call for policies to provide consistent help across all universities for this overlooked group

Jessica Iyamu, Ellie Brown

University Campus North Lincolnshire (UCNL)

10 ways universities can tackle gender inequality

Ellie Bothwell outlines recommendations from THE’s recent report on how universities around the world are performing on gender equality

Ellie Bothwell

Times Higher Education

A healthcare professional assisting a male patient

Why and how to build awareness of cultural sensitivity in healthcare curricula

Why and how to adjust curricula to take account of cultural sensitivities relating to the discipline being taught, taking healthcare as an example

Craig Jackson

Loma Linda University

Advice on institutional action to advance racial equity among students and staff

Moving beyond statements of commitment to taking action on race equality

Tips for universities to examine their practices to ensure racial equity is embedded across institutional structures, by Shames Maskeen and Malcolm Todd

Shames Maskeen, Malcolm Todd

Leeds Trinity University

Advice on the support needed to get more young women into higher education in sub-Saharan Africa

How to change the default settings that exclude women in sub-Saharan Africa from higher education

Angeline Murimirwa outlines the steps necessary to support young women from marginalised communities in sub-Saharan Africa into and through higher education

Angeline Murimirwa

CAMFED (Campaign for Female Education)

How to embed gender equality work into an institution's teaching and research practices so it is not lost when key individuals move on

Institutionalising gender equality work within a university

Strategies to ensure that gains in gender equality work at universities are not lost when the individual staff members driving them move on

Kathryn Rebecca Maude

American University of Beirut

Advice on building a sustainable long-term gender equality action plan to improve female representation at your institution

Embedding gender equality: building momentum for change

Eileen Drew explains how positive leadership, data-informed actions and priorities, mass engagement and collaboration all feed into a successful gender equality initiative

Eileen Drew

Trinity College Dublin

Advice on steps instructors can take to encourage equitable group dynamics among students

Supporting equity among students in group work

Natasha Holmes and Kira Treibergs share strategies for preventing implicit biases affecting student group dynamics, and facilitating productive and equitable teamwork

Natasha Holmes , Kira Treibergs

Cornell University

Australian government has invested heavily in university equity initiatives

Has government investment in higher education equity been worth it?

Evaluating the success of sector-wide initiatives is fraught, but there are some universal truths that should be considered, say Steven Howard and colleagues

Steven Howard, Sarah O’Shea, Kylie Lipscombe, Kellie Buckley-Walker

University of Wollongong

It is incumbent upon university leaders to create diverse and inclusive communities and curricula

Breaking the oldest rules in the book: making promotion and tenure more equitable

Pardis Mahdavi and Scott Brooks explain how a rethink of the processes that govern promotion and tenure to put diversity work at its heart could result in a more equitable higher education system

Pardis Mahdavi, Scott Brooks

Arizona State University

The higher education sector in the US is using an antiquated system of judging student metrics

IPEDS and the trouble with student metrics in the US

The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System surveys hold great weight in the higher education system, but they are not inclusive enough and thus no longer fit for purpose, says Elizabeth Harris

Elizabeth Harris

Colorado State University Global

Building equitable scientific research partnerships with the global south requires trust and equality in decisionmaking

Creating equitable research partnerships across continents

Shabbar Jaffar provides tips for successful international collaborations built on trust, appropriate recognition and inclusiveness in decision-making

Shabbar Jaffar

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

Advice on creating equitable pathways to better engage all students regardless of background or prior knowledge

Co-creation and empowerment: pathways to better student engagement

Effective approaches universities can take to promote equity and improve student learning outcomes and employability, shared by a team from the University of Salford

Sara Namvar, David Greensmith, Niroshini Nirmalan

University of Salford

Advice on how to effectively bring co-creation with students into your teaching practices

Co-creating with students: practical considerations and approaches

Stacy Katz explains how to develop meaningful learning experiences by collaborating with students, rather than determining for them

Stacy Katz

Lehman College CUNY

Most students need a helping hand, but giving every student the same thing does not necessarily equate to good support

Do we need equity or equality to make things ‘fair’? Actually, we need both

Fair, to some people, means everyone getting the same thing. But that’s only fair if everyone begins at the same place and needs the same things to succeed, says Todd Zakrajsek

Todd Zakrajsek

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Advice for early career researchers on handling challenging workplace issues and misconduct

Advice for early career researchers on handling workplace inequality, prejudice and exclusion

Sarah Jasim and Shaakir Salam offer early career researchers advice on how to navigate issues of inequality, prejudice and exclusion in the workplace and handle misconduct without risking their own positions

Sarah Jasim, Shaakir Salam

The London School of Economics and Political Science, King’s College London

A framework for an equity oriented pedagogy that improves student grades

Equitable teaching that creates pathways to success for all students

Andrew Estrada Phuong and co-authors present a framework for an adaptive equity-oriented pedagogy that helps diverse students achieve better results

Andrew Estrada Phuong, Judy Nguyen, Fabrizio Mejia, Christopher Hunn, Dena Marie

University of California, Berkeley, Stanford University, Orinda Academy

Podcast discussing building resilience and protecting well-being among university staff and students

Campus Talks: Making teaching more inclusive and equitable

How can academics ensure their teaching strategies meet the needs of diverse students and create inclusive, equitable classrooms

Jason Arday, Tazin Daniels, Chiara Horlin, Amanda Irvin

Durham University , University of Michigan, University of Glasgow, Columbia University

Create online courses with equity at their heart to bridge the digital divide

Bridging the digital divide: online courses with equity at their core

Otito Iwuchukwu talks about how to take an equity-first approach to delivering online courses to ensure all students can access the resources they need and have their voices heard

Otito Frances Iwuchukwu

Fairleigh Dickinson University

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