Abstract
Ethnic minority groups have been shown to obtain poorer final year degree outcomes than their majority group counterparts in countries including the United States, the United Kingdom and The Netherlands. Obtaining a lower degree classification may limit future employment prospects of graduates as well as opportunities for higher level study. To further investigate this achievement gap, we analyzed performance levels across three academic years of study of 3,051 Black, Asian and White students from a United Kingdom University. Analyses of covariance investigated effects of ethnicity and work placement experience (internships) on first, second and final year marks, whilst statistically controlling for a number of factors thought to influence achievement, including prior academic performance. Results demonstrated superior achievement of White students consistently across all years of study. Placement experience reduced, but did not eliminate, the size of the achievement gap exhibited by final year students. Sex, parental education and socioeconomic status had no significant main effects. Female students showed a more complex pattern of results than males, with Black females not showing the same final year uplift in marks as their Asian and White counterparts. Implications and possible explanations are discussed.
Highlights
Ethnic minority groups have been reported to have final year degree outcomes that are inferior to their majority group counterparts in The Netherlands (Van Den Berg and Hofman, 2005; Severiens and Wolff, 2008), the United States (e.g., Betts and Morell, 1999) and the United Kingdom (HEFCE, 2015)
The Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) achievement gap was smaller amongst students who had taken a placement
Consistent with our first hypothesis, even at a highly multi-cultural university where white students are a minority – and with a number of critical variables statistically controlled – White students still out-performed their Asian and Black counterparts in terms of final year marks. This worrying result replicates findings reported across the sector and reflects previous literature (e.g., Broecke and Nicholls, 2007; Fielding et al, 2008; Richardson, 2008) on the BME attainment gap in Higher Education
Summary
Ethnic minority groups have been reported to have final year degree outcomes that are inferior to their majority group counterparts in The Netherlands (Van Den Berg and Hofman, 2005; Severiens and Wolff, 2008), the United States (e.g., Betts and Morell, 1999) and the United Kingdom (HEFCE, 2015). Whilst overall proportions of University students receiving ‘good’ (first or upper second classification) degrees in the United Kingdom have increased over the past decade, the gap between the proportions of White British students achieving at this level in comparison with United Kingdom-domiciled students from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) groups remains (75.6% vs 60.4%: Equality Challenge Unit, 2015). This is disturbing in the context that the implications of obtaining a lower degree classification are potentially enduring. Addressing the attainment gap at an institutional level is an ethical imperative.
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