Visualising attainment

The ‘Attainment Gap’ in Higher Education describes the disparities in educational achievement and outcomes among different groups of students. These gaps are present in educational attainment levels, enrollment rates, graduation rates, and access to higher education opportunities. Attainment gap data captures how many students were awarded a First or a 2:1 in any given year. First or 2:1 classifications are considered to be a ‘good’ or ‘higher’ degrees and very often, are the baseline requirements for graduate-level jobs and postgraduate study in the UK. When attainment data is displayed, it is usually grouped by factors known to influence attainment; socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, gender, and family background (Lucas, 2001).

One significant factor contributing to attainment gaps is ethnicity. Research has shown that ‘ethnic minority’ students in UKHE tend to have lower academic attainment compared to white students (Richardson, 2008). The gap seems to prevail whether the course is taught on campus or online (Crawford & Wang, 2014; Richardson, 2012). In 2018, Ross et al. descirbed the ‘BME’ (Black and Minority Ethnic) attainment gap as "the great unspoken shame of higher education" (Ross et al., 2018), suggesting that the current measurement of attainment in HE may not be effectively addressing the underlying issues of inequality in higher education.

Back in 2019, the Office for Students decided that the gap between black and white students was so significant, that they needed to develop a key performance measure to address it.

But is the metric approach to attainment gaps in UK HE really able to capture the full complexity of this issue? When we drill down the overall attainment data into these views based on different groups are we not missing the potential intersectionality of the different factors? Furthermore, how does a single metric on a given course operate as an adequate point of departure for a course team? In a climate where metrics must be turned into interventions and strategies, we must ask what is the actual ‘data’ that course teams are using to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the issues, experiences and challenges faced by students.

With thanks to…

Crawford, I. and Wang, Z. (2014). The impact of individual factors on the academic attainment of chinese and uk students in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 40(5), 902-920.

Oswald, G., DuVivier, R., Wood, S., & Freeman, T. (2021). Surviving and thriving at a uk university through a minority lens.. Journal of the Australian and New Zealand Student Services Association, 29(1), 35-51.

Richardson, J. T. E. (2008). The attainment of ethnic minority students in uk higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 33(1), 33-48.

Richardson, J. T. E. (2012). The attainment of white and ethnic minority students in distance education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 37(4), 393-408.

Ross, F. M., Tatam, J., Hughes, A. L., Beacock, O. P., & McDuff, N. (2018). “the great unspoken shame of uk higher education”: addressing inequalities of attainment. African Journal of Business Ethics, 12(1).