Black engineers’ representation and attainment
Project summary:
The School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Sciences and the Department of Engineering at King’s College London (KCL) launched the "Success for Black Engineers" project to address the under-representation of Black students in its engineering programs, where Black student enrolment was below 5%. This project aimed to create a more diverse and inclusive engineering community, reflective of KCL's location in London, by increasing Black student representation and improving their academic outcomes.
The project includes a range of initiatives such as school outreach, STEM tutoring, peer, academic, and industry mentoring, summer research placements, and insight days. While it is too early to see the long-term impact, we can already see promising increases in representation of Black students, as well as significant short-term achievements. These include the development of a mentoring and outreach model now being disseminated across King’s and other institutions.
The One King’s Impact Fund
"Success for Black Engineers," now renamed "Success for Black Students," has been selected for further expansion, including extending the project to the Department of Physics in 2024-25, through funding from the One King’s Impact Fund. The project has been recognised in staff surveys as a positive step towards race equality, with students expressing that the program has made them feel supported in their university experience and given them valuable insight into further study and careers.
Black students consistently experience lower attainment in key subjects like maths and physics compared to their white peers, leading to underrepresentation in STEM careers. This disparity is highlighted in the Hamilton Commission Report, which explores the barriers to Black individuals in UK motorsport and STEM, starting from education. The Royal Society (2021) also emphasises that Black students in STEM face significant attainment gaps from school to university.
This project aims to tackle these gaps by creating a scalable model that can be implemented by other departments and institutions. Many higher education professionals are concerned about the awarding gap but may not know how to begin addressing it. Our refined blueprint, along with a best practice guide, provides a ready-to-implement step towards a solution.
The full report can be found and read here on the King's College website.