Student Diversity and the Student Experience at City

City has a very diverse student population, with a high representation of students from groups who would normally be considered as underrepresented within higher education in the UK. Below are some statistics on the representation of different student groups at City in the 2018/19 academic year.

Age

  • In 2018/19, 24.8% of City students were in the 30+ age category and 15.7% were in the 18 – 20 category
  • Consistently, the highest proportion of City’s students have been in the 21 – 24 age category (38.0% in 2018/19)

Disability

  • In 2018/19 7.4% of City students declared a disability, which is the highest declaration rate seen across the period 2015/16 – 2018/19. This had increased from 6.5% in 2017/18
  • City is still below the national average for students declaring a disability, which was 12.9% in 2017/18

Ethnicity

  • In 2018/19, 54.6% of City students identified into an ethnic group categorised as BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic), and 36.3% identified as White
  • 9.2% of students selected ‘I don’t know’ or ‘Information refused’ in 2018/19, which was down from 12.2% in 2017/18
  • White students (36.3%) make up City’s largest ethnic group, followed by Asian students (26.2%) in 2018/19. City’s smallest ethnic group is other, at 2.4%

Gender

  • 58.2% of students in 2018/19 identified as Women, 41.7% as Men, and 0.05% identified as Other
  • The proportion of students identifying as Other has increased from 0.01% in 2015/16 to 0.05% in 2018/19

Student feedback

Ensuring that our students from all different groups and backgrounds have an equitable and excellent student experience is an important part of our commitment to EDI as a University.

We use our annual student surveys (such as the Your Voice Surveys and the National Student Survey) to better understand the experiences of our diverse student populations. We also work closely with City Students’ Union to regularly run targeted surveys, focus groups and interview opportunities for specific groups of students to help us better understand a particular element of your experience and ensure that we are prioritising the right projects for you.

Here are some examples of some of the feedback we have received from our students recently which relates to our commitments and work on EDI at City:

  • “My university accepts a high percentage of international students, which I enjoyed the wide variety of students engaging and exchanging experience and perspective with them.”
  • “I am an international student and a black ethnic minority student. I felt the international community wasn't represented enough at City. I was part of Students' Union. There were issues ensuring the feedback was shared across the five or six different schools within the university… Only 21% students who identify as black graduate with a 1st. They didn't have representation. It's not something university has put emphasis on. The university could do better at representing the entire cohort, this they could improve on.”
  • “I think racism is discussed at the university, and I’ve been part of some focus groups and received some emails about race and racism at the University. However, it’s not part of my academic studies, as there isn’t really the room for that in what I’m studying.”
  • “Excellent prayer facilities for Muslim students.”
  • “In [one] class, we had a really interesting conversation during Pride Month or to do with the LGBTQ community. A guest speaker came in and spoke about the history of the LGBTQ liberation movement, and brought in race and class to this, and we had a really good conversation about identity.”

How you can get involved and share your views

If you have any particular feedback on a part of your student experience which relates to EDI or the work that we are doing to ensure that we are a diverse and inclusive community, please write to Student EDI to share your experience.

We also have lots of relevant student societies to support and engage students from a range of groups and backgrounds at City, including faith and cultural societies and political societies which you can join. You can find a full list of the student societies on the City Students’ Union website.

Expected Behaviours and our Student Community

City’s Student Charter – We are City and the recently published We are City – Covid-19 Community Agreement both clearly set out the behaviours expected of all members of the City community, whether on-campus or operating remotely.

Our strong commitment to maintaining a safe, welcoming and supportive environment for all students, staff and visitors, guides the behaviours we expect from members of our community. Where these behaviours are not met, our Student Discipline Regulation and Student Complaints Regulation can be used to raise issues formally or informally with the University.

If you have experienced harassment, bullying, sexual misconduct or any other related inappropriate behaviours from another member of the City community, including visitors and third parties, City’s Student Harassment and Bullying Policy and Student Sexual Misconduct Policy outline the processes you can use to attempt to resolve this or to make an informal or formal report to the University.

If you have any concerns relating to harassment, bullying or sexual misconduct, you may wish to speak to a Harassment Adviser. For all other concerns relating to inappropriate behaviours at City, you may wish to speak to one of our dedicated support services.