24.The National Union of Students (NUS) welcomes the news that greater numbers of black and disabled students are studying at UK universities, but there is still a lot of work to be done on widening access, writes the union's president, Gemma Tumelty.
A recent Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) equalities review showed that significant numbers of potential students felt their disability was a major barrier to accessing higher education (HE).This is simply unacceptable.
Equality and diversity is not entirely a “numbers game” and before too much praise is given we need to hear more from non-traditional students, not just about their experience of accessing higher education but also going through the system.
Equality in society is absolutely, and fundamentally, linked to equality in access to education.
For many students, university is the place where they will be first exposed to different cultures and different people. As well as fighting for better access, the NUS wants to see diversity properly valued and promoted within the student experience. Many pay lip service to the value of diversity, but is this recognized and promoted as a core asset to those who go through the HE system?
Equality in society can be promoted by equality and diversity at university. But the benefits of university as a positive, diverse environment must be seen by students as adding “value” as much as any other factor before the numbers game is really won by the champions of diversity.