As I’ve progressed through this unit, I’ve been reflecting on a couple of things that are relevant to the Foundation Course at UAL in regards to race and how it can impact student’s experience.
1. Progression into BA
2.Retainment gap for BAME students throughout their studies
1.Progression
The first one is progression into BA education. Most of the students that come to UAL FAD have the intention of staying within UAL, but something that we don’t often focus on is how students envision themselves progressing to a BA.
Rihanna Garret poses “If imaginations have the potential to transform our political, social and cultural understandings of the globe and communities within it, they also have the ability to transform career trajectories in academia.” (Garett, 2024)
I think this applies to Foundation students as well. Students are preparing to progress to a BA and they come face to face with choices and the trajectory they can imagine. Can they see themselves thriving in one of UAL’s colleges? or in a BA at all?
I’ve had comments from students around UCAS time saying “I don’t think I can apply to Central Saint Martins because I’m not cool and rich enough” (CSM is sometimes perceived this way due to its strong connection to the Fashion industry). A couple of years ago, one student expressed to me that he only wanted to progress to LCC because it was the only college where he saw more black students. Last year, one student decided to take up her place at CSM after she saw (and spoke) to a black lecturer during an offer holder day I urged her to go to. Things like this make me realise that progression is way more nuanced than we think.
When I think about progression, the aim is for students to make decisions based on things like the curriculum they want to engage with, career aspirations and what they consider is the right choice for them and not so much if they will “fit in” or be perceived differently while studying.
“Their identities intersected with their perceptions of how they would be treated within an academic career, based on past and present lived experiences” (Garett, 2024)
If a BAME student cannot envision themselves achieving at high capacity, progressing into their desired courses and even entering industry then we are not supporting our students in the best way and the University has not done enough to address this. As Alice Bradbury mentions: racial inequality is maintained by policies which systematically discriminate against minoritised groups (Bradbury, 2020), there are probably “blind spots” that could be addressed by involving BAME student voices in the progression process instead of continuing with a Business as usual (Delgado and Stefancic, 2000) mentality
2.Retention
According to UAL data, The retention gap still shows a difference between white and BAME home students which I believe shows that systemic barriers are present. The concept of the “leaky pipeline” (Wong, 2021) seems evident in the data. Yet even though UK universities have international cohorts, there is no demand by the government to have data on the retention gap for ALL students regardless of nationality. I think this is a big blind spot, especially when a common theme that pops up over and over in interviews with students is the mention of the sense of belonging being a reason not to call out racist incidents or microagressions – better not to rock the boat or my peers won’t accept me.
‘none of us speak up about it . . . because I’m the only Asian . . . we tend not to take any action’ and admitted his fears of retribution because ‘my flatmates, I think it’s seven of them, they formed a gang’ (Wong, 2021)
Is an aspect of the leaky pipeline linked to students finding it difficult to create a sense of community? and is the sense of not finding community exacerbated by a sense of otherness? and if so, what meaningful institutional changes can happen within the university?
Sources:
Wong, B., et al (2021) Is race still relevant? Student perceptions and experiences of racism in higher education. Cambridge Journal of Education 51(3), pp 359-375.
Garrett, R (11 Feb 2024): Racism shapes careers: career trajectories and imagined futures of racialised minority PhDs in UK higher education, Globalisation, Societies and Education, DOI: 10.1080/14767724.2024.2307886
UAL Undergraduate Attainment Report, 23-24. Available at: https://canvas.arts.ac.uk/documents/sppreview/1cdc0ff4-8830-4787-b187-f7db576ab259 (Accessed 30/04/2025)
Bradbury, A., 2020. A critical race theory framework for education policy analysis: The case of bilingual learners and assessment policy in England. Race Ethnicity and Education, 23(2).
Thank you for sharing such a thoughtful reflection. Your points about progression are really powerful, especially the student voices you included, which clearly show how structural and cultural perceptions shape students’ confidence and choices. I found your framing of imagined futures through Garrett’s lens particularly compelling, and your reflections on belonging and community concerning retention really resonate. I completely agree that the link to the “leaky pipeline” and the lack of comprehensive data is something that needs more urgent attention. Lots of food for thought here, especially in my own teaching context at Central Saint Martins.
Thank you for your comment Kuljeet. Having a student voice when it comes to progression is something that the Foundation course is working towards, and I hope that it can trigger changes at an institutional level rather than expecting individual people to address it entirely.
Echoing Kuljeet, I too found the realisation of how identities intersect in this way interesting and at the same time sad that the lack of role models affected the students to the extend of being discouraged to join a course. This implies many layers of negative, marginalised experience, which I would have underestimated too, especially in the creative sector.
It shows again how our assumptions appear when in the job. Its been only in the past three years that I’ve really tuned into how lack of representation can affect progression so much!