Understanding our story

Hi

I decided to continue a theme from last week’s blog, and set out our approach to strategic planning.

As mentioned previously, data is key to creating an evidence base to inform decision-making. Good data is comprehensive, accurate and up to date. Our student equality data, is really good. There are though some gaps in our employee data. In the last academic year we encouraged employees to complete and update their personal data . As a result, there was an increase in disclosure of information on sexual orientation and religion or belief. It is now just under 40%, so continues to be an area of work.

We take employee data from our annual People Report. In 2015/16 it revealed that our overall staffing levels had changed very little since the previous academic year. Within this, the male : female ratio also remained the same 44% : 55%. Our data showed, like many others in the sector, that women experience”horizontal segregation” e.g. we have a concentration of women in administrative roles, and an under-representation in Estates. It also indicated that women and black and ethnic minority employees were under-represented in senior management roles.  The data did though show a small increase in our employment of black and ethnic minority staff. The figure remains below our student profile and the profile for Cheltenham and Gloucester. Given this, these areas continue to be a priority for us.

Analysis of  applicant, short listed and appointment data revealed another area for action. This supported the qualitative data that we had been collecting over the same period.

Our student priorities are informed by a range of data sets including results from the National Student Survey, our Academic Course Evaluations and our annual Student Report. The latter indicated an attainment gap between our black and ethnic minority students and their white peers, as well as a challenge in the retention of mature students.

We don’t just use data to identify areas for development though. Using a SWOT analysis our strengths are revealed.  For us this includes support for disabled students and our faith provision….good practice we can learn from and roll out.

We carry out environmental scanning, looking out for legislative changes, tribunal decisions or consultation documents. We regularly check out the Equality Challenge Unit website and publications and attend external workshops and briefings. Conversations with our stakeholders, including trade unions, students, student societies and the student union form part of this environmental scanning.

Having established, analysed and interpreted our evidence, we move into implementation and evaluation, generating more evidence. The cycle begins again.

More information on our People Report and student statistics can be found on equality and diversity web page.