Equality, diversity and inclusion

Explore the many aspects of equality, diversity and inclusion at Kingston University.

Why Kingston University is great for inclusion, diversity and equality

At Kingston University, we’re dedicated to helping all students achieve their potential. Our undergraduate programmes are designed to provide the knowledge, skills and opportunities needed for future success. Our institution focuses strongly on equality, inclusion and support for everyone.

Here’s what makes Kingston special:

Fair access for everyone
We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to study at university. That’s why we’ve developed initiatives to support students from all backgrounds, ensuring access to higher education through tailored programmes and resources.
Diversity and inclusion at the heart of everything we do
Kingston is proud of its diverse community, and we actively promote equality across all aspects of university life. From reducing gaps in degree outcomes to providing targeted support, we are committed to making Kingston a welcoming place for everyone.
Recognised for our leadership in equality
Our efforts in inclusion have been nationally recognised, including the prestigious Race Equality Charter Award. We’re continually improving to ensure all students feel valued and empowered.

Our achievements and commitments

The Race Equality Charter (REC) is a framework created by Advance HE through which higher education institutions can identify and reflect on institutional and cultural barriers impacting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) staff and students.

Kingston University serves an immensely diverse student population and has always engaged with student race equality. We were one of the first six universities to receive the Race Equality Charter Bronze award in 2015/16 and our latest award in 2024 is valid until 2029.

The University has been commended for its sector-leading work on reducing the degree awarding gap for students. We are now applying this same drive and commitment to improving progression and outcomes for BAME staff across the organisation.

Race Equality Charter Action Plan

As an organisation, we have learned a huge amount from the Black Lives Matter movement of Summer 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic's disproportionate impact on BAME communities.

As a result, we are constantly reviewing and updating our race equality action plan to ensure it is fit for purpose, addresses structural inequities, and achieves sustainable change and progress.

Progress made so far

There has also been important progress at the University, driven by the newly formed Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Staff Network:

The University has now explicitly stated its commitment to race equality by endorsing the Race Equality Pledge
We have introduced a Senior Leadership Team (SLT) Lead for Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), Professor Simon Wortham
We have created a Senior Leadership Team Sponsor for Race Equality
We have appointed two Race Equality Charter co-chairs
The University has been undertaking a review and restructure of EDI governance within its governance structure to ensure the EDI objectives and actions are met and fully achieved – results will be used to shape our EDI objectives and strategy for the next five years

We look forward to sharing further progress and achievements moving forward.

Significant and persistent degree awarding gaps are found across the higher education sector and this has been a long-standing issue and concern for universities.

What is a degree awarding gap?

A degree awarding gap refers to the difference between the proportion of students from one group awarded a first class or upper second degree, compared with another group. For example, it may refer to the gap between the proportion of White students awarded higher grades compared with the proportion of Black students.

At Kingston we have long believed that addressing such gaps is an essential part of advancing equality and social justice, and have made it a strategic priority. In the last decade we have reduced the degree awarding gap between Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) students from 25.4% to 12.7%. However, we acknowledge there is still more work to be done.

Kingston's commitments

Like most other universities, Kingston still has significant degree awarding gaps between White and Black students, young and mature students, and students from the most and least deprived sections of society, based on the English Indices of multiple deprivation (IMD).

Our Access and Participation Plan commits us to achieving the following targets by 2025:

Reduce the degree awarding gap between the most and least deprived IMD quintiles to 6%
Reduce the degree awarding gap between White and Black students to 10%
Reduce the degree awarding gap between young and mature students to 7%

These targets also form part of our Public Sector Equality Duty commitments.

How is Kingston reducing the degree awarding gap?

Inclusive Curriculum Framework

Central to our approach has been our award-winning Inclusive Curriculum Framework. This framework ensures courses reflect the learning experiences of our diverse student body, are accessible to everyone and no-one is disadvantaged.

Value-added metric

We have also developed a value-added metric, which measures how far our students' grades differ from the sector average, with the same entry qualifications and subjects studied.

The value-added approach allows us to isolate student attainment from the effects of subject and entry qualifications, and means we can focus attention on the institutional factors that may contribute to differential outcomes. It also helps us more accurately measure our progress.

A culture of equality

We are working hard to create a whole-institution culture of inclusivity across our courses and services, which will improve the experience and academic success of all our students.