Background

In my role of working with colleagues across the university, in collaboration with the three Academic Directors of Inclusion, Belonging and Community, who represent the three super Faculties, I have been exploring the most recent literature around the ethnicity awarding gap, and in particular focusing on the literature that reports on the student experience. It is no surprise that for the most part, the literature has supported my view that addressing the awarding gap is a complex process, but there are some things we can reflect on in our own practice that are not necessarily measurable but that can attempt to narrow the awarding gap, which I will highlight below. Before I go further, however, I would just like to briefly clarify what is meant by the awarding gap and why we need to address it, in case you have not come across this before.  

What is the awarding gap? 

The Office of Students (OfS), which is the independent regulator of higher education in England, requires higher education institutions to have Access and Participation Plans (APP’s), which set out how they will ‘improve equality of opportunity for underrepresented groups to access, succeed in and progress from higher education’ (Thomas, 2020, p.2). This is measured by four outcomes; obtaining a degree, achieving a first or upper-second class degree, obtaining a degree and getting a job or engaging in further study, and obtaining a degree and getting graduate employment or postgraduate study (ibid). Higher education institutions need to ensure they are providing a learning environment for all to succeed. 

A number of years ago, Cousin and Cureton (2012) wrote a paper highlighting four key areas to understand where disparities in awarding outcomes can occur, these areas were; relationships, pedagogies, psycho-social, and cultural and social capital. While these areas overlap, I will frame my findings from the most recent literature related to addressing the ethnicity awarding gap around these four themes. 

Relationships 

Drawing on Ryan and Deci’s (2020) model of self-determination theory, the absence of ‘relatedness’ can affect success and this does not just mean relating to peers, but also to lecturers and their subject content, as well as the institution as a whole – see an earlier Blog post on ‘Building Relationships in Large Cohorts’. Often students from minoritised ethnic backgrounds will feel alienated from the academic community as they cannot identify with the content or their peers, and they may not have the space to share their own experiences to feel their knowledge is valued. This can lead to them feeling distant from the learning, and in some cases unable to seek out help from lecturers if they face challenges (Gutman and Younas, 2024). Connected to this is students reporting feelings of imposter syndrome, which also prevents them from asking for support, as well as the implication that there is a stigma associated with this help-seeking behaviour (Sappor and Franks, 2025 and Marandure et al, 2024), which perhaps makes the case for normalising asking for support more explicit. 

Minoritised ethnic students report experiencing negative stereotyping and microaggressions (Marandure et al, 2024) all of which affect their sense of relatedness and thus belonging. These behaviours can further alienate students and hinder their success.  

Calo et al (2025) and Shakir (2024) recommend creating safe and inclusive spaces where all students can openly share their backgrounds and identities so as to develop a greater understanding among both students and staff for all to thrive. Students feel that small acts, such as asking how students are and showing an interest in them as individuals, make students feel more welcome and valued (Shakir, 2024). 

Pedagogies 

To narrow the awarding gap, there should be a move to more relational and critical pedagogical methods (Shakir, 2024) that would allow for more peer-bonding activities, which would help to build stronger relationships among different groups of students from the beginning. In addition, the literature states that students feel that having more group work supports them in making more connections with a diverse range of peers (Gutman and Younas, 2025 and Shakir, 2024), all of which can prepare students more effectively for working in a globalised world. For alternative approaches to be effective, the purpose of them needs to be explained to students who may not always be familiar with why we are doing what we are doing in our practice (Negrea and Gartland, 2025). 

Another area to focus on is the design of assessments. Ensuring that plain or simplified language is used in assessment briefs to reduce anxiety in students around understanding what is expected of them, is highly valuable (Sappor and Franks, 2025). As well as taking the time to unpack what the criteria looks like in practice. While not always easy to implement, some students felt flexible deadlines would support those students balancing studying and part-time work or other factors (Gutman and Younas, 2025). 

Psycho-social 

An area that frequently came up in the literature, and related to the first theme mentioned above, was students feeling they were not seen as individuals, but rather as a group or category, which in itself is a social construct, bringing with it various stereotypes of how different student groups behave. Negrea and Gartland (2025) found that ‘labelling and targeting’ certain groups of students for interventions may lead to further discomfort for those students and again prevent them from seeking help to avoid being judged. Minoritised ethnic students felt there were not very high expectations of them, often reinforced by their contributions being undervalued (Gutman and Younas, 2025). If students lacked role models, it was very difficult for them to see their future selves, which is why there is a need for lecturers to highlight to all students what they are aspiring to (Marandure et al, 2024). 

Cultural and social capital 

Relating to Bourdieu’s (2011) work on forms of capital, where cultural capital includes the knowledge and skills you develop throughout your life that relate to your culture, such as your accent, or views of the world, versus social capital that consists of the relationships or social networks you have access to.  For minoritised ethnic students coming from different cultural backgrounds, navigating the nuances of university norms and values can be a challenge. Often these ‘norms and values’ are hidden and need to be explained or highlighted to students to ensure a shared understanding. Not being aware of these norms can lead to students not feeling entitled to different structures including accessing the support that is available to them (Sappor and Franks, 2025). 

To sum up 

This is a brief snapshot of some of the most recent literature on addressing the ethnicity awarding gap. As has been illustrated, it is a complex process that needs a whole institution approach. However, by keeping an open mind, creating space to hear from diverse voices and communicating openly with your diverse cohorts you can create a more inclusive learning environment, which is a step in the right direction towards achieving greater success for all students. 

I know there is a lot of great work being done across the university to narrow the awarding gap, so please do reach out and share your practice. 

References 

Bourdieu, P. (2011). The Forms of Capital. In (3 ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429494338-6  

Calo, F., Kourti, I., Wahga, A., Scognamiglio, F., & Kutlu, G. (2025). Navigating the Award Gap of Ethnic Minority Students. In J. Baxter, H. Selby-Fell, & A. Gilbert (Eds.), Creativity and Critique in Digital Learning and Teaching: Insights for Learning Design in Business and Law (pp. 221-248). Springer Nature Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-68086-1_10  

Cousin, G., & Cureton, D. (2012). Disparities in student attainment (DiSA). York: Higher Education Academy 

Gutman, L. M., & Younas, F. (2025). Understanding the awarding gap through the lived experiences of minority ethnic students: An intersectional approach. British Educational Research Journal, 51(2), 990-1008. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.4108  

Marandure, B. N., Hall, J., & Noreen, S. (2024). ‘… They’re talking to you as if they’re kind of dumbing it down’: A thematic analysis of Black students’ perceived reasons for the university awarding gap. British Educational Research Journal, 50(3), 1172-1188. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3963  

Negrea, V., & Gartland, C. (2025). An umbrella review of widening participation in higher education: Strategies, challenges, and research gaps. Review of Education, 13(3), e70120. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.70120  

Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2020). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self-determination theory perspective: Definitions, theory, practices, and future directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61, 101860. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101860  

Sappor, G. and Franks,J. (2025). The BAME awarding gap: understanding student perspectives. London Review of Education, 23(1). https://journals.uclpress.co.uk/lre/article/pubid/LRE-23-2/  

Shakir, S. (2024). Safe Spaces to Discuss Wicked Problems: A Staff and Student Co-Creation Project on Addressing the Awarding Gap. Social Sciences, 13(12), 653. https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/12/653  

Thomas, L. (2020) “Excellent Outcomes for All Students: A Whole System Approach to Widening Participation and Student Success in England”, Student Success, 11(1), pp. 1–11. doi: 10.5204/ssj.v11i1.1455.