Less than 1% of university professors are black

Less than 1% of university professors in the UK are black, official figures show.

Higher Education Statistics Agency’s annual figures show that while there have been efforts to widen access for students, there are still few black academic staff. Between 2014/15 to 2019/20, the number of black professors rose from 105 to 155.

Meanwhile, 7% of professors are Asian and 89% are white, according to the figures for 2019/20.

This remains below 1% as it has been for the past five years – the proportion of black professors has marginally grown from 0.5% to 0.7%.

There has been an increase of 50 posts in the last five years despite the number of professorships growing by more than 3,000 in that time. 

Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU), said: “The pace of change is glacial.

“Universities must do more to ensure a more representative mix of staff at a senior level and stop this terrible waste of talent.” 

Halima Begum, chief executive of the Runnymede Trust race equality think tank, said: “Around a quarter of British postgraduates are from ethnic minorities, there is clearly no shortage of qualified black and minority academics seeking elevation to senior teaching and research roles in our universities.” 

Universities must do more to ensure a more representative mix of staff at a senior level and stop this terrible waste of talent

– Jo Grady

Dr Begum called the figures on black professors “disappointing” and “inexplicable”.

Among all academic staff, 75% are white, while 10% are Asian, 2% are black, 10% and the remainder under categories of “mixed” and “other or not known”. 

There is also a considerable gender gap in professorships. Women hold 28% of professorships, up from 23% five years ago. 

Over the past five years, the number of women in these senior posts has risen from 4,500 to 6,300. However, women represent 46% of all academic staff. 

Baroness Amos, the UK’s first black university head, warned of “deep-seated prejudices and stereotypes which need to be overcome” in the recruitment of senior staff at a university. 

Universities UK said: “More needs to be done to address this inequality which exists within higher education, which mirrors inequalities evident in wider UK society and which will require an unequivocal commitment to change.”

The organisation went on to say “the evidence is clear that black and minority ethnic staff continue to be under-represented” at the senior academic levels.