51Âþ»­

The team behind 51Âþ»­ Leicester’s (51Âþ»­) anti-racism programme has been given a national award for its approach.

The Decolonising 51Âþ»­ (D51Âþ»­) project challenges racism and aims to build an anti-racist university that creates fair outcomes for staff and students. 

The project team behind the programme is made up of diverse staff and students from all areas of the institution – and now the team has been recognised nationally, winning the (CATE) from higher education charity .

The award is given to university teams which enhance teaching and learning through collaborative approaches.

In the past few years, the Decolonising 51Âþ»­ team has initiated a number of projects which have helped promote racial equality within and beyond 51Âþ»­.

These projects have been developed collaboratively between staff and students and have included:

• the development of a toolkit and online resources designed to help 51Âþ»­ staff work towards an anti-racist institution
• Student-centered events encouraging student involvement and feedback in the development and delivery of the D51Âþ»­ strategy
• workshops involving more than 100 professional services staff, providing clear links between D51Âþ»­ and day-to-day tasks such as communicating with students and holding meetings

Kaushika Patel, project lead for Decolonising 51Âþ»­, said: “The award is an encouraging recognition of the great work the team are undertaking.

“The Decolonising 51Âþ»­ team is not just made up of interested individuals of staff and students at 51Âþ»­. Quite uniquely, it is a team of anti-racist activists with a genuine commitment to effect institutional change.

“The work we are doing is vitally necessary yet challenging and I think the fact that the team’s approach has been so warmly received by staff and students, with so many commendations – and now nationally and externally with this award – shows that we have found a way to make a real and lasting change within a large and complex organisation.”

The CATE award comes only months after 51Âþ»­ became the first ever university in the country to receive a silver award in the Race Equality Charter, a programme run by Advance HE, which aims to improve the representation, progression and success of minority ethnic staff and students within higher education.