Improving representation of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic staff at senior levels

We will improve progression for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic academic staff from grade F to G, and from grade H to professorial, taking into account and reducing Faculty variation.

We have identified two main "drop off" points in our academic pipeline: Grade F, where the gap in representation between grade F and grade G has increased.
The gap in representation between grade H and Professorial grade has decreased slightly.

Race Equality Charter survey show concerns around transparency in recruitment.

1. Investigate academic pipeline ""drop off"" points and gaps, and feed into academic promotions' process.
2. Share findings across Faculties to enable sharing of good practice identified.

Pipeline report produced with associated action points and shared at Faculty level and University Inclusion Group.

Improvements in "drop off" points reviewed through overall improvement in recruitment practices as outlined in AP 6, AP7, AP10 and AP11.

We will improve promotions beyond grade F for our Professional Services Staff

Evidence shows Professional Services Staff promotions currently only take place between grades B to F for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic colleagues. We need to enable and ensure promotion beyond Grade F is available to Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic colleagues.

We anticipate that the cause of this is due to a range of recruitment practices that we are addressing through other areas of this action plan. In addition, we will put in place targetted actions to support promotions for professional staff.

Through our developing programme of work for "Exeter Professional":

1. Establish a Black Asian and Minority Ethnic mentoring programme focused on preparing staff in professional services roles for senior positions.
2. Create a shadowing scheme so staff can observe the work of senior staff and decision-making committees.
3. Promote career pathways at the point of induction, through networks, and comms streams. Unlike for academic staff, career pathways are not clearly defined.

10% of all Professional Services Staff promotions beyond grade F are Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic. 

We will appoint our first Black Female Professor by 2026. 

Our data shows we currently have no Black Female professors in our University. We recognise that there is a chronic underrepresentation of Black Female Professors nationally. 

In addition to actions outlined in Aim 6, Aim 7, Aim 10,  Aim 11 and Aim 13, we will source and work with recruitment organisations that can demonstrate success in recruiting senior female Black academics. 

Appointment of First Female Black Professor by 2026. 

We will improve uptake of training opportunities by Black Asian and Minority Ethnic academics. 

The uptake of Black Asian and Minority Ethnic academics' training programmes increased in 2017/2018. However, this increase is not consistent over the following years. We think that the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019/2020 may have affected take up. Before our Race Equality Charter process, we did not have a data dashboard to monitor the uptake of training per ethnicity, so we will continue to do this to identify any trends over the next few years.

1. Continue to monitor the uptake of training by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic academics to spot any trends and put in place relevant interventions.
2. Review uptake of our Leadership development programmes by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic academics.
3. Encourage uptake of leadership programmes by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff through senior management nomination.
4. Continue to invest in development initiatives that support Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff's career progression, including the Diversifying Leadership and Elevate programmes.  

Uptake of training by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff increases consistently to 20%.

We will commission a new PDR system.

Our existing system does not capture uptake by protected characteristic and therefore we do not have a mechanism to review the ethnicity breakdown of uptake.

1. Develop specifications for the new PDR system to ensure that it can capture uptake and ethnicity breakdown before going out to tender.
2. Install the system.
3. Monitor uptake, especially by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff.

• Baseline for PDR uptake established for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff.
• Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff report positive PDR experiences in Race Equality Charter survey 2025 as a result of Anti-racism training for managers outlined in Aim 3.

We will develop a cohesive approach to support profile-raising opportunities.

At present, we have a number of Institutional and Faculty-led profile raising opportunities. We will streamline these to ensure that opportunities are allocated fairly.

1. Undertake a survey of all current profile-raising opportunities.
2. Develop a streamlined calendar of events and opportunities throughout the year so that Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic speakers can be encouraged to take part, building on our current work such as the Individuality Lecture Series, Creative Dialogues and Black History Month.

1. A benchmark on current opportunities produced.
2. Calendar of events produced and their effectiveness measured.

Race Equality work is rewarded and accommodated in workload allocation.

We recognise that both academic and professional staff support our anti-racism endeavours.

Feedback from our Task and Finish Group and our SAT highlights that with small numbers of Black Asian and Minority Ethnic staff in our university, the work necessary for them to support several initiatives such as the Race Equality Charter SAT, anti-racism forums etc. is not accommodated within their current workload; however, the University cannot progress with these initiatives without their input.

Produce a benchmark on how much time is currently allocated for race equality work and then record how that increases over time as it becomes formalised in PDRs

• Inclusion of race equality work in annual PDRs with appropriate time allocation given so it was formally recognised and then rewarded in terms of feedback
• Benchmark produced on how much time is currently allocated for race equality work and then we Race Equality Charterord how that increases over time as it becomes formalised in PDRs

We will improve our existing pay gap data and practice taking into account issues of under-representation. 

Our data around equal pay is linked to under-representation, and we will need to make significant improvements to the data to understand the picture in more detail. 

1. Research best practice and sector updates on ethnicity pay gap reporting in the absence of government directives.
2. Continue to benchmark our pay gap analysis against other Russell Group and HE institutions, particularly those situated in areas with comparable workforce demographics.
3. Include other relevant factors such as length of service, nationality and time spent on grade.

• Pay gaps reporting annually using standard national measures.
• Progression through staff grades, including duration, is monitored through HR Pay Gap working group, reporting to the University Inclusion Group.