The ‘Living Black at University’ project came from the understanding that there is limited research into the experiences of Black students in student accommodation, and that accommodation has an impact on their wider university experience.
The Halpin team was a mixed-gender, Black-led research team with various intersectional experiences.
Halpin’s research team adopted a mixed methodology, drawing on both qualitative and quantitative field research with Black students and accommodation staff, and contextualised by the wider literature on race and higher education (HE). The students and staff we consulted were people of all ethnicities and based in UK higher education institutions (HEIs). We consulted with home/EU and international students and staff. The research spanned both university halls and the breadth of the private purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA) sector.
The project addressed a wide variety of issues, including:
- day-to-day lived experiences of racism
- awareness and effectiveness of policies and procedures
- trust and the relationships between students, staff, the university and the wider community.
A crucial aspect of the research design was to listen to, understand and amplify the voices of Black students in their accommodation, and use this as a basis to present key findings and to propose recommendations to the sector.
Outcomes:
- Quantitative data through student and staff nation-wide surveys
- Qualitative data through nation-wide focus groups dedicated to only Black students
- Recommendations grouped by audience for implementation, e.g. Unite Students, the PBSA sector, the HE sector
This piece of research is so important, Halpin and Unite Students want to make sure that its implementation is successful and far-reaching across the UK. Here are a few ways the research continues to be a living piece of work:
- A national commission has been set up to implement our report recommendations on a national scale. The group comprises decision makers from across the higher education sector and the student accommodation sector. Together, we have the reach and resources to implement wider-scale change.
- The creation of the ‘Creating Meaningful Change: A Living Black at University Conference’, as a result of the report. It is a free one-day event that brings together universities, accommodation providers, and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) leads in the sector, in order to work on the recommendations together.
- At Halpin, we are working with individual institutions to carry out their own specific ‘Living Black at University’ research, to allow them to make change using data that is unique to them.
- A book with the working title Living Black at University: decolonisation beyond the curriculum is being created to present anti-racism work in an accessible way to a wide audience. It will include important topics including accommodation, mental health, peer supervision and university leadership stances on anti-racism.
- A Higher Education Policy Institute blog series has been created to keep the discussion on our report ongoing.
- A podcast episode has been published as another way to engage people with the research.