Sta/Medr/16/2025: Higher Education Race Equality Monitoring Measures

Introduction

This statistical release is an update to the Race Equality Monitoring Measures that was published by one of Medr’s predecessor organisations, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), in 2024.

This release contains information on the ethnic backgrounds of:

• those applying to higher education via UCAS.
• the numbers of students at higher education providers in Wales and their degree outcomes.
• the numbers of staff at universities in Wales and their terms of employment.

This report is accompanied by a spreadsheet containing the full data that is described in this report and can be found on the Medr website.

The measures were first published by HEFCW to meet an action in the Welsh Government’s Anti-racist Wales Action Plan: 2022. Publishing this updated version of the measures provides up-to-date information that can contribute to monitoring the progress of this plan.

Medr uses the data to inform our Strategic Equality Plan and as part of our monitoring for regulatory and funding purposes. Data and evidence inform our policy developments and contribute to our assessment of our contribution to the Welsh Government’s Anti-racist Wales Action Plan. As Medr develops its regulatory and funding processes we may use the data to inform our understanding of equality of opportunity, staff and student welfare, the learner experience, and performance and risk.

The measures also contribute to monitoring the goals of the Well-being of Future Generations Act, and also to Medr’s duties from the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act (2022) and the Equality Act (2010).

Main points

Applicants and Applications

• The proportion of UK-domiciled UCAS applicants and applications to full-time undergraduate courses at Welsh Higher Education (HE) providers who are from a minority ethnic background has increased from 2016 to 2024. This is true for all of the ethnic background groups used in this report (Asian, Black, Mixed and Other).
• The percentage of applicants being made an offer is consistently higher for those from a White or Mixed ethnic background than those from an Asian, Black or Other ethnic background. This is true for 18 year old applicants and applicants of all ages.
• The proportion of applicants meeting the conditions of their offer who are from minority ethnic backgrounds has increased from 2016 to 2024.

Students

• The proportion of UK-domiciled entrants from minority ethnic backgrounds to courses at Welsh HE providers has increased from 10.3% in 2016/17 to 17.9% in 2023/24. There is a general trend for an increasing proportion of entrants being from each of the Asian, Black, Mixed and Other ethnic background groupings, with the largest increases being amongst those from an Asian ethnic background.

• Between 2016/17 and 2023/24, students from a White ethnic background have consistently been more likely to be awarded a first class honours degree than students from any other ethnic background.

• Students from a Black ethnic background have consistently been more likely to be awarded a lower second class or third class degree than students from other ethnic backgrounds.

Staff

• The proportion of staff, academic and non-academic, from minority ethnic backgrounds has increased from 2016/17 to 2023/24. The largest increases have been amongst staff from Asian ethnic backgrounds.

• Staff from a White ethnic background are more likely to be on permanent terms of employment than staff from any other ethnic backgrounds.

• Academic staff from Black ethnic backgrounds are more likely to be employed at a middle or lower grade compared to staff from other ethnic backgrounds. A higher proportion of academic staff from the White and Other ethnic background groupings are employed in the higher grades compared to the other ethnic background groupings.

• Differences between ethnic backgrounds in the proportion of non-academic staff employed at each grade have narrowed between 2016/17 and 2023/24.

• Although the number of governors in the higher education sector is low, the proportion who are from minority ethnic backgrounds has increased from 3.1% in 2016/17 to 13.6% in 2023/24.