Talented black graduates are being shut out of academic careers in science and technology, according to the president of the Royal Society, who appealed to the scientific community to improve access.
White students were twice as likely as black students to graduate from degrees in science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem subjects) with first-class honours in 2018-19, whereas black students were three times more likely to leave with a third. Black students also had higher dropout rates (4.7% for black undergraduates compared with 2.7% for their white peers).
This contributes to underrepresentation in academic careers, with just 1.7% of academic staff identifying as black compared with 13.2% as Asian and 81.3% as white. Just 3.5% of black academic staff are professors, compared with 11.9% of white staff, according to Higher Education Statistics Agency data.
Sir Adrian Smith, the president of the Royal Society, which commissioned the report, said: “Talented black people are not finding science careers in UK academia and that is unacceptable. Our reports show that black people are more likely to drop out of science at all points of the career path. It is time that the whole science community comes together to find out why and put it right.”
Dr Mark Richards, a senior lecturer in physics at Imperial College London and member of the Royal Society’s diversity committee, said the worse outcomes for black undergraduates may result from a lack of academic and pastoral support from universities. Black graduates may be deterred from academic careers due to “opaque” structures that make them appear riskier than alternatives in industry, he added.
The Royal Society also found that of the 5,070 eligible UK nationals for its early career fellowship grants, just 12% are from any ethnic minority background, and 1% are black. One fellowship scheme has received no applications from black British researchers over the past three years.
To remedy this, the Royal Society is planning a programme of networking events and mentorship schemes for early career researchers from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Meanwhile, new research commissioned by the Department for Education found that black students had the lowest returns from attending university out of any ethnic group. Their lifetime gains averaged at £50,000 compared with £100,000 for white graduates and £200,000 for South Asian men, with more of them studying financially lucrative subjects such as business, pharmacology and law.
Graduates of Pakistani heritage had the largest percentage returns from attending university out of any ethnic group. These graduates earned on average £23,000 at age 30 for men and £19,000 for women, nearly double the £13,000 and £11,000 salaries of nongraduates.
Considerable gains were also observed among students from the poorest 20% of families, who earned £25,000 for men and £21,000 for women at 30 compared with salaries of £20,000 and £11,000 respectively for their peers without graduate degrees.
Overall, the report estimated that two-thirds of all graduates are better off as a result of going to university, with all socio-economic and ethnic groups benefiting on average.
Jack Britton, associate director at the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which produced the report, said: “Among students from the poorest families, few get rich as a result of getting a degree. However, going to university is still an especially good financial decision for these students. One reason – regrettably – is that earnings prospects for this group are otherwise quite low.”
