‘Unsurprising’ data show that 1% of professors are black

Academics have said they are “unsurprised” by new figures that reveal that less than 1% of professors at United Kingdom universities are black, writes Alannah Francis for iNews.

Data published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency on Tuesday 1 February show that the number of black professors total just 160 of the 22,855. The ethnicity of 1,720 academics in the senior role was not known. Figures for 2019-20 showed 155 professors were black, out of 22,810. In the year 2020-21, 1,580 professors of the 21,135 whose ethnicity is known were Asian.

Sofia Akel, race, education and black studies lecturer, told i she was “not at all surprised” by the figures. “To be disappointed is to have expected more from the sector. Higher education is an institution that sustains and thrives off of institutional racism … If universities were as committed to systemic change as they are committed to appearing to be, we’d be looking at higher numbers today.”
Full report on the iNews site