Our Mission:

Given the diversity of UCL’s student body, the aim of this project was initially to gain some robust data about the diversity of teaching staff and reading lists in the Political Science Department, with special attention to the representation of women, people of colour, and critical, non-mainstream theories in our readings.

Why does UCL need an inclusive curriculum?

 

The BAME Awarding Rate Gap

 

According to the “Differences in student outcomes” study, conducted by the Office For Students, BAME (Black, Asian or minority ethnic) students are less likely than White students to be awarded first or 2:1 degrees in higher education.  We see this problem in our own department and at UCL more generally.

A possible explanation for this gap is BAME students’ lack of academic role models both in terms of their teachers and the authors of the work they have the chance to read. Lack of engagement with the core concerns and histories of minoritised and marginalised groups in higher education might also lead to alienation, contributing to the awarding rate gap, and fostering a vicious cycle of discrimination of BAME narratives in academia.

Citation gaps

 

Reading lists are the focal point of students’ learning experience in higher education, constituting a base for both their understanding of the degree, and their work within the field.

Thus, the lack of a range of authors, perspectives and approaches in the assigned readings will be reflected in students’ work.

Since citations may be used as a measure of research quality, many students are likely to cyclically cite the widely cited, mainstream works that appear in their reading lists in their own research.

Gaps in our curriculum therefore reinforce a vicious cycle of scholarly hierarchy within academia, which leaves little room for the work of women and BME scholars.

An incomplete education

 

A non-inclusive, Eurocentric curriculum produces a singular and restrictive narrative, which allows little room for innovation. For students to be critical, well-rounded, and well-informed, to receive a complete education, an inclusive curriculum with a wide range of authors and perspectives is essential.