Racial dissonance in the unexplained spaces of the ethnicity awarding gap: A critical exploration of undergraduate, UK domicile, South Asian male student journeys in a university business school.

Abstract

The focus of my thesis is the ethnicity awarding gap, a phenomenon prevalent across the higher education sector, whereby proportionately fewer first-class and 2:1 degree classifications are awarded to students from minoritised ethnic backgrounds in comparison to White students. This phenomenon sits within a wider backdrop of inequitable outcomes for people from minoritised ethnic backgrounds across areas such as the criminal justice system, employment, housing and education. Academics and policymakers alike have not been able to come to a consensus as to the definitive reasons for the awarding gap or what the solutions may be, confirming the complexity of the phenomenon and perhaps pointing to it being a ‘wicked’ issue. My research takes place specifically with undergraduate, UK domicile, South Asian male students in a business school, in a university in the northwest of England. In particular I consider contributory factors that may provide further insights into the ethnicity awarding gap between this grouping of South Asian male students and White students. My research draws on the experiences of South Asian male students through in-depth interviews and focus groups as well as in-depth interviews with tutors from the business school. My research operates in the area that I refer to as the unexplained space of the ethnicity awarding gap, i.e., that part of the awarding gap that is not easily explained by more quantifiable factors such as socio-economic status or prior qualifications.

Using principles of grounded theory and the use of inductive processes, a number of themes emerged from the data which provided insight into their experiences as students, and which provides a theory which provides some insight into that gap and means to further consider it. Those themes included the centrality of culture and family, identity, transition, relationship building by the students with peer groups and tutors, and issues of mental health. I argue that these facets of life, grounded in culture reveal cultural touchpoints, i.e., points of contact between the university and aspects of student lives which are grounded in family and culture have some relevance to how students engage with university. I further suggest that these cultural touchpoints may create some level of dissonance in that interaction. I refer to this dissonance as racial dissonance. The theory that emerged from the data suggests that for some South Asian students, the themes that were revealed by the data, and grounded in family and culture, are aspects of South Asian male student lives that the university is not sufficiently able to take account of, thereby creating a level of racial dissonance in students’ journeys through higher education, and which may adversely impact the ethnicity awarding gap.

My findings are discussed in the context of the literature review relating to the ethnicity awarding gap and in particular through bringing together and presenting a combined theoretical framework of Pierre Bourdieu’s habitus, cultural capital and field, and the key tenets of Critical Race Theory (CRT). My research highlights the importance of universities listening to and understanding, in a nuanced and intersectional manner, the experiences, lives and perspectives of its students. I posit that better engagement by the university with these processes will provide greater opportunities to transform its approaches to education and its environment in order to make progress in addressing the gap. Furthermore, my research goes on to make a number of practical recommendations that will be of value to the higher education sector.