Assessing Racism on British University Campuses

The National Union of Students (NUS) in the United Kingdom has released a new report that shows that many black students at Britain’s elite universities feel isolated on campus.

The NUS surveyed 900 minority students. About a quarter of the minority students said their universities were “cliquey.” Another 7 percent said their educational institutions were downright racist. About 16 percent of the surveyed students said they had personally experienced racism on campus. Nearly 30 percent of minority university students over the age of 40 said they had been confronted with racism on campus.

In the report, entitled Race for Equality, the NUS calls for universities to minimize the Eurocentric curriculum found at many institutions. The report also suggests that universities devise a system where students’ exams and papers can be read and graded anonymously so that any potential bias can be eliminated.

Copyright © 2011. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.