Swansea University receives its first Race Equality Charter Award.
The university is delighted to share the news that we have been successful in achieving a Bronze Race Equality Charter Award. This achievement demonstrates and endorses the University’s commitment to attain institution-wide race equality. This award marks the commitment and continuation of the excellent ongoing work to break down barriers that exist for Ethnic Minority staff and students and ensure equal opportunities are available for all.
Swansea University is a proud member of the Race Equality Charter (REC), which provides the institution with a framework to help identify and reflect on organisational and cultural barriers that might affect Ethnic Minority staff and students. The REC framework covers and positively impacts upon:
- Professional and Support staff
- Academic staff
- Student progression and attainment
- Diversity of the curriculum
What is the Race Equality Charter (REC)?
Run by Advance HE’s equality charters, the Race Equality Charter aims to improve the representation, progression and success of minority ethnic staff and students within higher education. It provides a framework through which institutions work to self-reflect on institutional and cultural barriers standing in the way of minority ethnic staff and students and have their commitment to and progress in removing these barriers recognised.
Over the past 18 months, the Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment Team (REC SAT), led by Professor Camilla Knight (formerly Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor for EDIB), worked collaboratively with Advance HE to address racial inequalities on campus. Guided by the REC framework, the team has reviewed, consulted, and critically analysed evidence and data to uncover disparities, challenges, and barriers that impact our Ethnic Minority staff and students. This process has been challenging - it involved confronting complex and sensitive issues that required a careful, thoughtful approach, along with strong leadership and senior-level endorsement to drive meaningful change.
The result of this process is the production of an extensive and detailed 5-year institutional action plan to address 7 key priorities to enhance the experiences and opportunities for Ethnic Minority staff and students.
Key priority areas are:
- Develop an inclusive culture for staff and students in which all individuals but particularly those from Ethnic Minorities report feeling they belong
- Exploring and addressing the disparity in the number of Ethnic Minority colleagues in professional services and researchers who are on fixed term contracts to the number of white colleagues
- Reviewing and addressing the disparity in the likelihood of Ethnic Minority colleagues being shortlisted and appointed for academic, professional services and researcher roles compared to White colleagues
- Understanding and addressing the difference in promotion success rate between academic Ethnic Minority and White colleagues across all grades
- Increasing representation of Ethnic Minority colleagues on decision-making committees across the University
- Reduce the undergraduate degree awarding differential between White IK students and UK Ethnic Minority and Non – Uk students
- Establish clear, accessible and trusted processes for reporting and handling incidents of racism and microaggression on and off campus.
Reflecting on our recent achievement, Prof Paul Boyle, VC said:
‘’Receiving the Bronze Race Equality Charter Award is an important milestone for our University. It recognises the work done so far and, more importantly, reinforces our commitment to driving meaningful change and making sustained progress in tackling racial inequality.
The action plan we have developed is ambitious, evidence-led and shaped by the lived experiences of our Ethnic Minority staff and students. It sets out a clear and necessary path for creating a more equitable, inclusive and supportive environment for all members of our University Community. I would like to extend my sincere thanks to everyone who has contributed to this critical work.’’
Meanwhile, DPVC EDIB reflected:
“Over the last few years, considerable attention has been given to addressing issues of racial inequality across the institution. Reflecting on this work, as well as the work still to do was a key step in producing our REC application. I am extremely pleased that the application we produced was considered to be strong by the Advance HE panel. I would like to extend a sincere thanks to all the staff and students who were involved in the application and underpinning work. However, it's also important to recognise that further work is to come as we strive to implement the REC action plan and further ensure that Swansea University is recognised as an anti-racist institution and welcoming to all.”
The University’s Bronze Award is valid for five years.
Anti-Racism at Swansea University
Our Commitment
At Swansea University we are committed to fostering a learning and working environment in which racism has no place — whether overt or subtle, individual or institutional. We recognise that anti-racism is an active practice that requires ongoing reflection, structural change, and accountability. This means going beyond non-discrimination to identify, challenge and dismantle systems, policies and practices that produce unequal outcomes for people from ethnic minority backgrounds.
We aim to build a University culture that is inclusive, equitable and empowering for all staff, students and communities — and one that actively confronts racism in all its forms. This commitment is guided by internationally recognised principles of anti-racism and is aligned with the Welsh Government’s Anti-racist Wales Action Plan. (An anti-racist Wales | GOV.WALES)
Signed Institutional Lead for EDIB
Professor Charlotte Rees
What Anti-Racism Means for Us
Anti-racism at Swansea University means:
- Embedding anti-racism into institutional life: integrating anti-racist thinking and practice across our governance, curriculum design, research, student support, People Services policies and community engagement.
- Shifting systems, not just attitudes: racism is not only about individual behaviours — it is embedded in historical structures, policies and processes. Anti-racism requires systemic transformation, not just a focus on individual intentions.
- Valuing lived experience and evidence: we commit to listening to and centring the voices of ethnic minority colleagues, students and partners, and to gathering robust data to understand and address disparities in outcomes.
- Proactive allyship and accountability: building cultural competence across our community, encouraging individuals to act as allies, and developing clear mechanisms for measuring progress.
Alignment with the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan
The Anti-racist Wales Action Plan (ArWAP), published by the Welsh Government, provides a framework for public sector organisations across Wales to work toward becoming an anti-racist nation. Its vision is a Wales where structural racism is actively challenged, where ethnic minority communities have equitable access to opportunities and services, and where lived experience helps shape policy and practice.
Key principles of the ArWAP that inform Swansea University’s anti-racism work include:
- Systemic focus over individual assumptions: the ArWAP emphasises that often racism is rooted in policies, institutional practices and unequal outcomes — not simply individual prejudice — and must be addressed at that level.
- Intersectionality: recognising that race intersects with other aspects of identity (such as gender, disability and socio-economic background), and that equitable change must reflect this complexity.
- Data-driven progress: improving the collection and use of data on ethnicity and race to understand disparities and guide effective action.
While Swansea University operates within the UK higher education sector and our own governance structures, we are committed to supporting and reflecting the spirit and objectives of the ArWAP by embedding anti-racist strategies in our policies and practices and contributing to positive cultural change within Wales.
Contact and Supporting Resources
If you have experiences you wish to share, concerns to raise, or ideas for strengthening our anti-racism work, we encourage you to reach out to People Services at: Peopleservices@swansea.ac.uk
You can read more about the Welsh Government’s Anti-racist Wales Action Plan in full on the Welsh Government site (An anti-racist Wales | GOV.WALES).
A full list of the REC SAT members between 2023 & 2025 can be found here ; REC SAT Membership 2023-2025
