USW and RWCMD achieve Race Equality Charter bronze award

The University of South Wales (USW) and the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (RWCMD) have achieved the Race Equality Charter bronze award.

The Advance HE Race Equality Charter aims to help universities in their work to improve the representation, progression and success of Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff and students in higher education. The bronze award recognises the commitment of efforts to identify barriers and provides a framework to help higher education institutions to address them.

Listening, reflecting, and acting

Over the past few years, the University and the College, have been working to better understand the needs of staff, students, and communities that they work with and to put in place appropriate guidance and positive actions.

This has included listening to the experiences of staff and students, introducing anti-racist training for staff, changing recruitment processes, encouraging discussions and education through events and activities, and providing accessible platforms for reporting any form of identity-based harassment or discrimination, to name a few.

The University has also been actively working with diverse communities across South Wales as part of its civic mission, particularly in the Newport area.

Placing race equity at the centre

Richie Turner, chairperson of the Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment Team (RECSAT) at USW and RWCMD, said: “It’s a huge achievement for Advance HE to recognise our work with this bronze award. The RECSAT team, which has included staff and students from across the University and College, has been working hard to place race equity at the centre of our thinking.

“It’s nearly one year since the shocking Race Riots took place in England and N. Ireland, and despite these riots not spreading to Wales we still have a lot to do, as institutions and as a country, to achieve the Welsh Government’s target of being anti-racist by 2030. However, the announcement of the award launches the next phase in our work and recognises the achievements we have made to date. We will be focusing on implementing the further changes and enhancements that we have prioritised in our action plans during the next five years.

“The University is committed to ensure that we accurately reflect and support our diverse communities throughout South Wales, recognising that their needs are different, and put in place positive actions that will help us achieve race equity.”

Dr Ben Calvert, Vice-Chancellor of USW, said: “I am extremely proud and grateful to colleagues, particularly to the Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment Team, for all the commitment they have put into this work. The contributions from our staff and students have helped us to reflect, to learn, and importantly led us to develop action plans that we hope will implement further positive change.  

“We have a lot of work still to do and the next steps that we have identified will take us further along our path to being an anti-racist organisation, achieving race equity, and to ensuring we have appropriate support for our staff, students and the communities that we serve.”

Professor Helena Gaunt, Principal of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, said: “We are proud to have been awarded the Race Equality Chartermark. This a significant recognition of our shared commitment to equity, belonging, and meaningful change.

“This achievement reflects the collective effort of our staff, students and community partners, and reaffirms our vision to make music and drama more inclusive, accessible and representative of the society we serve. We know there is more to do, and we remain deeply committed to embedding anti-racism and inclusive practice in every part of College life.”

Anne Mwangi, Head of the Race Equality Charter, said: “REC Bronze is recognition of an institution’s robust foundation for eliminating racial inequalities, developing inclusive cultures and moving from commitment to sustainable and integrated bold and ambitious action.

“Advance HE looks forward to supporting the University of South Wales as it progresses its action plans to advance race equality.”