Our priorities

 Race Equality Action Plan

Our Race Equality Action Plan has recently been reviewed and refreshed to reflect the current experiences of race equality at Sheffield and the work we need to do in response to that. 

The Action Plan has five overarching priorities: 

• We are committed to creating an equitable, inclusive and open culture that facilitates belonging and promotes respect for ethnic minority staff, students and the wider community.
• We commit to addressing the under-representation of BAME colleagues, in particular at higher grades, by increasing the diversity of our staff body, reducing bias in the recruitment process and removing barriers to progression.
• In order to ensure transparent accountability for the actions set out in this plan, we commit to improved reporting structures, mechanisms to monitor impact and share good practice, led by colleagues at the senior management level.
• We commit to creating an inclusive learning and teaching environment for students from BAME backgrounds, ensuring their voices are heard and barriers to course progression and attainment are addressed at all levels of the organisation.
• Throughout our REC self-assessment process, we have noted that data, and ethnicity data in particular, is not readily available; out of date and/or incomplete. We must enhance our data collection and reporting processes to ensure that our approach to race equality is evidence-based and to transparently monitor and evidence the impact of the actions set out in the plan.

These priorities have been agreed following analysis by a self-assessment team and the Race Equality Delivery Group. 

Explore the Race Equality Strategy and Action Plan

Reflecting on our work so far

Race equality programme for all new students

We implemented a three-phase race equality programme for all new students, and our Race Equality Champions are delivering the programme to help facilitate open discussion.

Training for student societies

Every student society has an inclusion officer on its leadership committees who works to ensure that inclusion and accessibility are at the heart of all social activities. They receive training and support to ensure they are equipped with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to understand and tackle the systemic barriers that students face to participation.

Access and Participation Plan

We are committed to reducing the awarding gaps experienced by Black and Asian students and have written targets specifying this into our Access and Participation Plan.

Equality, diversity and inclusion training

We launched new equality, diversity and Inclusion training for staff and postgraduate researchers. This baseline training provides our staff with the core foundations and understanding of diversity and inclusion. 

Ethnicity Pay Gap Report 

In 2023, we began to monitor and report on our ethnicity pay gap.

Our commitment to publishing our Ethnicity Pay Gap data annually, ahead of the legislative requirement, is an important signal of our intent to make meaningful change in this area.   

View the report

Our Race Equality Charter Bronze Award 

We have received the Race Equality Charter Bronze Award from Advance HE.

The Race Equality Charter is a framework which enables universities to identify where institutional and cultural barriers may stand in the way of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME)* staff and students.  

Race equality is a key priority under the One University pillar, and we are committed to promoting and supporting an inclusive and welcoming workplace and learning environment for all. 

Race Equality Commission 

The Sheffield Race Equality Commission is a collaborative network of people and organisations working towards a shared aim to make Sheffield an anti-racist city.

The University of Sheffield serves as an anchor institution, collaborating with the Race Equality Commission to achieve this objective.