All eight of Wales’s universities have achieved the Race Equality Bronze Award

Universities support each other’s work to improve the representation, experience, progression and success of racially minoritised staff and students within higher education.

All eight universities in Wales – Aberystwyth University, Bangor University, Cardiff University, Cardiff Metropolitan University, Swansea University, University of South Wales, University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Wrexham University – have collaborated to achieve a Race Equality Charter Bronze award. The Race Equality Charter’s mission is to improve the representation, experience, progression and success of racially minoritised staff and students within higher education. It provides a rigorous and robust framework through which institutions work to critically reflect and act on institutional and cultural barriers standing in the way of their progression and success.

Anne Mwangi, Head of the Race Equality Charter, said, “This achievement in three years is exceptional and a fantastic outcome for tertiary education in Wales, demonstrating the commitment to advance race equity. REC Bronze is recognition of an institution’s robust foundation for eliminating racial inequalities, developing inclusive cultures and moving from commitment to sustainable and integrated bold and ambitious action.

“The universities have collaborated throughout the process, sharing best practices and innovative approaches that have enriched their individual action plans, each carefully tailored to their specific institutional context. These awards follow rigorous independent peer reviews of each separate application. The reviewers all come from the sector.

“Advance HE looks forward to supporting these institutions as they progress their action plans to advance race equality.”

Kieron Rees, Director of Learner Experience at Medr, said: “This is significant achievement by Wales’s universities. We, like our predecessor body HEFCW, are proud to have been able to support universities in this important work. We would like to pay tribute to the hard work of staff in securing this recognition.

“We know that universities will continue with their progress in this area, building on the strong foundations of having achieved the Advance HE Race Equality Charter Bronze Award. We too will continue to work with the Welsh Government, the tertiary education and research sector, and key sector partners to make progress towards achieving an anti-racist Wales and ensure inclusive learning and work environments for all.”

Professor Paul Boyle, Chair of Universities Wales, said: “This notable achievement by Wales’s universities is testament to the sector’s ongoing commitment to creating safe, inclusive and supportive learning environments for both staff and students. It also highlights what can be accomplished through collaboration and shared purpose.”

The awards in Wales coincide with the tenth anniversary of the Race Equality Charter. Improvements in representation have been seen for racially minoritised staff in the ten years in the UK since the REC was established:

• The proportion of racially minoritised academics has increased by 9.6 percentage points from 12.8% in 2012/13 to 22.4% in 2022/23
• The proportion of racially minoritised professors has increased by 4.4 percentage points from 8.4% of professors in 2012/13 to 12.8% of professors in 2022/23
• The proportion of racially minoritised Heads of Institutions has increased by 10.5 percentage points, from 0% in 2012/13 to 10.5% in 2022/23.

Advance HE will support all eight universities as they work to implement their action plans and progress race equality in Welsh higher education, just as it has done so during the work to achieve these awards.

Notes:

Medr

• Funding was originally provided by Medr’s predecessor body the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) W22/05HE: Consultation on funding to support race equality in higher education to tackle anti-racism and support culture change in higher education, in line with race, access and success policy developments and the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan. The initial publication included the conditions of match funding and the expectation that universities achieve a race equality charter award by 2024/25. All universities confirmed to HEFCW their intention to meet this commitment by the end of 2025.

Advance HE

• This year also marks the twentieth anniversary of the Athena Swan Charter, a framework to support and transform gender equality within higher education (HE) and research.  Advance HE’s Equality Charters are catalysts for change – supporting higher education institutions and research institutes in their work to transform their cultures and make an impact on the lives of staff and students. 
• In January 2026, we will be launching the Inclusive Institutions Framework, designed to help institutions align and embed their equality, diversity, inclusion (EDI), widening participation, and access priorities. Find out more.

This news item was originally published by Advance HE: All eight of Wales’s universities have achieved the Race Equality Bronze Award.