Closing the Degree Awarding Gap

The Degree Awarding Gap, also known as the Degree Attainment Gap, refers to the difference in the proportion of one group of students defined by a particular characteristic receiving a first/2:1 compared with another group.

It is important to stress that according to Advance HE and the UUK/NSS Closing the Gap report on Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Student Attainment at UK universities (2019) these unexplained gaps exist even when student’s prior attainment (e.g., A-level grades or UCAS entry points) is considered.

The University of Reading is committed to reducing these gaps and working with both our staff and student community to ensure all students regardless of their background can thrive and succeed.

Our Access and Participation Plan (APP) sets out our targets for reducing the awarding gaps and our other commitments to underrepresented groups, and is approved by the Office for Students (OfS). The University aims to

to reduce the awarding gap between Black and minority ethnic students and white students to 5% in 2024/25. We also aim to eliminate the awarding gap between students from advantaged and disadvantaged backgrounds by 2024/25.

You can read about the University’s progress increasing access and participation from disadvantaged groups in this Staff Portal article.

Our progress so far in closing the Awarding Gap

Note: The following data considers the Access and Participation Plan (APP) as regulated by the OfS, which includes undergraduate and home students only.

• Significant reduction in Black – white awarding gap to 6.8 percentage points in 2020–21 from 13.2 percentage points in 2019/20

• Significant rate of progress in reducing Black-white awarding gap by over 5 percentage points per year since 2017/18

• The 2020/21 BAME – white gap is the lowest it has been in five years at 7 percentage points, down from 8.2 percentage points in 2019/20

• Maintained  similar awarding gaps between most advantaged and disadvantaged students by socio-economic status in 2020/21. There has been limited progress in reducing these gaps over the last five years

• Disabled – Non-disabled gaps favour disabled students for the second year running (3.1 percentage points in 2020/21)

• A much higher proportion of all students achieved good degrees in the year 2019/20 and 2020/21

• There are significant variations at school level 

However, when international students are incorporated into the data the gap between white students and Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) students as a collective increased from 9.1% to 10.2% in 2020/21.

Next steps and how to get involved: 

There are new webpages for staff on the awarding gaps and we would encourage staff to read about the causes of awarding gaps, what students at the university are saying and what you can do to help reduce the inequality between different student groups.

Each school also has an awarding gap representative who sits on the Awarding Gap steering group and staff can contact them to get involved and find out more.

Colleagues can also explore the themes of racial justice at university through:

• Racial justice exhibition, Library foyer, ends Thursday 24 February. This draws on the reflections and lived experiences of staff and students on race, equality and inclusion.

• Promoting racial justice in teaching and learning: An edited collection of pieces by students and staff. A newly launched journal which features poems, essays and reflection.