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our REC self-assessment process, we have noted that data, and ethnicity data in particular, is not readily available; out of date and/or incomplete.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

Supporting BAME students

We launched a resource hub to better support our BAME student community and provide information for prospective students. Developed in collaboration with our BAME student community, the BAME Student Hub brings together tailored information, resources, and guidance for all undergraduate and postgraduate students to help you make the most of your time at university.

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

The University is committed to providing an equitable and supportive learning experience for all students, regardless of their background or circumstances and has developed detailed guidance for schools on what this means for our curriculum, teaching and assessment.

Next steps: Work is now underway to better understand, and improve, the experiences of BAME students in University accommodation.

We are also continuing to develop our hubs, adding a new section within the Hubs dedicated to student stories and lived experiences—from application through to graduation—this space celebrates the achievements and real journeys of students from BAME backgrounds, fostering a sense of belonging while helping students feel seen, represented, connected, and highlighting the Hubs as a meaningful digital space.

Transforming our recruitment: more diverse, data-driven, and inclusive

We have made improvements to our recruitment practices and are delighted to report that, thanks to recent initiatives, we have seen a rise in applications from BAME applicants across the University.

What’s new?

• Improved recruitment pages: Our external job pages and staff profiles have been refreshed with more inclusive language and authentic imagery.
• New Tools: Our new EDI in Recruitment Hub provides resources and guidance for hiring managers to follow best inclusive recruitment practices.
• Better Data: With the launch of our new recruitment system - SuccessFactors Recruiting - we are in a better position to understand and report applicant progress to identify and remove hidden biases.
• Anonymous shortlisting: Using the MeVitae anonymous shortlisting tool alongside SFR we are able to automate anonymous shortlisting at the long application, loglist and shortlisting stages of the recruitment process, to help reduce bias and ensure fairer hiring practices.
• Sharing interview questions in advance: We have developed manager guidance for sharing interview questions in advance to level the playing field, reduce anxiety, and allow for thoughtful, evidence-based responses that reflect professional capability over improvisational skill.

Next Steps: The focus now moves to our faculties to ensure we implement these tools locally, and we are working to refine our selection and interview processes.

Embedding equality, diversity and inclusion

In order to embed EDI considerations into our decision-making processes, Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) are a useful tool that can help us to understand the potential impacts of our decisions. Detailed guidance on EIAs, and a new training module are now available to colleagues to encourage and support them to complete EIAs when making any changes to existing ways of working, ways of delivering services or changes to the University environment to understand how it could impact staff and students.

Work is also underway to improve the diversity of decision-making committees, through more targeted promotion of suitable vacancies to underrepresented groups, e.g. through staff networks, and wider staff comms.

Next steps: Looking ahead, we will be exploring alternative options to increase diversity of opinion in decision-making, where the membership of committees is restricted to and therefore dependent on specific post-holders (ex-officio roles).

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 Partnership Sheffield 

The University of Sheffield is an active partner in the Race Equality Partnership for Sheffield (REPS), which launched in 2024. The REPS is a collaborative network of people and organisations with a shared aim to support race equality in Sheffield.

The REPS has been established by partners across the city, including public sector institutions, local businesses and community groups, to support the city in delivering against the recommendations that have come out of the work of the Race Equality Commission, which delivered its final report in 2022.