Our priorities for race equity

In February 2025, we were delighted to hear we have achieved the Race Equality Charter Bronze Award.

This award marks the start of our journey to advancing race equity at the University of Salford, giving us external recognition that we have a clear understanding of our race equity issues, and signifying our commitment to move ahead with a robust 5-year action plan to tackle the race inequities we have identified.

As part of this process, colleagues and students shared their feedback via our Race Equality Charter survey within the 2023/24 academic year. This feedback has been used to create six REC priorities, which will focus our work over the next five years to advance race equity at the University of Salford.

Our six priorities

1. To deliver year on year improvements to student and colleagues experience of inclusive culture at UoS.

2. To increase the proportion of minoritised ethnic colleagues across all areas and grades, through enhancements to the recruitment process.

3. To increase the proportion of minoritised ethnic colleagues across all areas and grades, through supporting career progression of existing colleagues.

4. To narrow the gap between minoritised ethnic students and White undergraduate students in relation to the proportion of 2:1’s and first-class degrees awarded.

5. To increase representation of undergraduate Black students in the School of Health and Society, through achieving parity for Black students.

6. To enhance the experiences of international students, through providing specific and culturally appropriate support.

More information can be found in our Race Equality Charter summary (PDF).

So what next?

Whilst the bronze award is a great result and a testament to all the hard work of those involved, it’s also important that we are not complacent, and that we continue to focus on the future. The Bronze Award gives us the opportunity to create an ambitious action plan that aligns with the Statement of Ambition.

Now is the time to bring the action plan to life, by implementing these commitments across the institution and embedding race equity into everything we do. This is a collective responsibility that requires a whole institution approach to create real, tangible steps towards achieving race equity.

We look forward to sharing further updates on how the action plan is progressing. If you would like to know more about the Race Equality Charter, you can read our 2 page REC summary document, or the full application on our Charter Mark hub page.