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Conroy, Dom, Poku, Mary-Jane, Patel, Jade, Diop, Leah, Huda, Nahid, Benn, Jade and Olasope, Awesome (2024) Talking careers: using interviews with learner stakeholders to understand the graduate outcome gap. Stakeholder internal report. Autumn 2024. Project Report. London Metropolitan University, London (UK).
It is well-recognized that students of colour studying in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) under-achieve relative to white students. One way in which inequality is apparent is in terms of a ‘graduate outcome gap’ reflecting ethnicity-based differences in graduates entering highly skilled graduate employment (i.e., ‘graduate employment’). The key metric here concerns the relative proportion of graduates who are white students and graduates who are of colour in graduate employment six months after completing degree studies. Evidence shows that fewer graduates of colour than white graduates in employment are working in meaningfully defined graduate-level roles (59% vs 69%) and that fewer graduates of colour than white graduates earn above £25,000 six months after graduating (25% vs 30%) and fewer graduates of colour employed full-time than white graduates (70% vs 80%) (Social Market Foundation, 2021).
A growing body of evidence associates these discrepancies with structural racism in educational contexts and areas of university life (McGee, 2020; Razack & Naidu, 2022; Ugiagbe-Green & Ernsting, 2022). Recent scholarship has unpacked factors that help explain and might help address the graduate outcome gap highlighting that the gap is partly sustained by assumed equality of opportunity ('the myth of meritocracy') (Ugiagbe-Green et al., 2021, p. 10). These authors also highlight the need for bold policy actions designed to address the graduate outcome gap including, illustratively, innovation to move away from competency-based assessment approaches and commitment to developing targeted internships and work experience schemes. Recent articles have reported similar interventions to address structural racism in both child and adult educational settings (e.g., Byfield & Talburt, 2020; Coles & Kingsley, 2021).
Little is known about what learners of colour have to say about the ethnicity linked graduate outcome gap. Given the critical importance for all learners of securing graduate level work, understanding factors relevant to addressing the graduate outcome gap as identified within the experiences and views of key stakeholders, i.e., of learners of colour, have been neglected in the literature to date. This internal report presents exploratory research designed to help address this area of neglect and to contribute to the relevant evidence base.
Therein, the aim of our research was to understand the experiences of learners of colour based at a post 1992 North London university setting pertaining to developing career plans, to accessing careers and employability services, and to viewpoints of ‘the graduate outcome gap’ as defined above. Our research applies locally, to a post 1992 university setting, but transfers to some degree to the stake held by all learners of colour studying in higher education and, by extension, to all relevant educators working in higher education institutions.
To achieve our aim, we sought to address the following research questions:
1. 'What are students of colour's experiences of exploring career possibilities and career goals?'
2. ‘What are students of colour’s experiences of accessing careers and employability services while studying at university?’
3. ‘What are students of colour’s viewpoints on factors that help explain, and may help mitigate, the ethnicity linked graduate outcome gap?
This report will provide provisional evidence to help address research questions 1, 2 and 3.
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