Bridging the BAME Attainment Gap: Student and Staff Perspectives on Tackling Academic Bias

The Higher Education attainment gap between BAME students and their White peers is well documented. cause of this multifactorial, there a need to understand contributing factors support the design meaningful interventions. This study aimed probe student staff understanding what contributes collect feedback on how reduce it. Qualitative data were collected from 110 STEM (95% 75% female) 20 (70% 80% Universities in West Midlands London via one-to-one interviews focus groups. Questions developed across themes support, inclusivity, development. Transcripts subjected inductive deductive thematic analysis. Key findings included: for cultural awareness representation within services pastoral care provision tailored who first families attend university. Students also felt academic disproportionally represent backgrounds, leading sense not belonging amongst students. like tokens diversity reported having higher workloads than staff, social drinking culture isolating, participants that all should engage with cultural/religious training be improved through inclusive recruitment practices mentoring. results highlight access culturally sensitive backgrounds.