UK study finds only 17 black female professors

Racial inequality is rife in UK universities, according to a report that reveals there are only 17 black female professors in the entire system.

Overall, 92.4 per cent of professors are white, while just 0.49 per cent are black. Only 15 black academics are in senior management roles.

The report by race equality charity the Runnymede Trust also says it is much harder for black and Asian students to get into the country’s most selective universities even if they have the same A-level grades as their white counterparts.

Dr Omar Khan, the trust’s director, said: “Evidence that white British students with lower A-level results are much more likely to get into elite British universities than Asian students with higher  A-level results suggests there is unconscious bias if not positive discrimination in favour of white university applicants.

“The obvious question is – if the racial inequalities persist across every measurement of outcomes in higher education, will black and ethnic minority students continue to pay £9,000 a year for a much poorer experience than their classmates?”