Difficulties affecting academic performance

The actual achievement of different ethnic groups within HE varies, and this is discussed further in Chapter 6. Here we are focusing on academic performance during studies, particularly in relation to any specific difficulties students encountered during their studies, and whether there are differences by ethnic group.

1 _{Course choices, both level and subject, can be different by gender,} and may play a role in addition to personal factors.

2 _{Pollard E, Pearson R, Willison R, Next Choices: Career Choices Beyond} University, IES Report 405.

In our survey, current students were asked to outline any problems or difficulties they had experienced personally, which they felt had affected their performance (ie stopped them from doing better than they would have liked or from achieving more in exams/a higher class of degree).1 _{Students gave their answers without prompting or} the use of a list of pre-coded options, and were free to outline as many difficulties/problems as they felt applied to them. The main ones reported were:

z financial difficulties, again (discussed further in section 5.5) z problems with balancing part-time working and study

(discussed in section 5.5)

z and problems with facilities and getting sufficient support from staff.

Among minority ethnic groups, there were comparatively few incidents of racial discrimination or harassment that came up when this question was asked.

Exploring any differences by ethnic group, more (around three- quarters to more than four-fifths) of each minority ethnic group gave a problem or difficulty of some kind, than White students (just under a quarter). Black Africans were the most likely to have experienced problems, and Indians and Chinese/Asian Other the least likely.

The kinds of problems experienced varied markedly in their relative significance for different groups:

z Fewer Indian students mentioned part-time working

problems (makes me miss lectures, makes me tired), only six

per cent, compared to any other group (mostly 15 per cent or more).

z Indians were also more likely than any other minority ethnic group to find academic work too hard, and almost equally likely to report this as to report financial difficulties. This was unlike other groups, where financial difficulties emerged as by far the main type of difficulty reported.

z Insufficient academic staff support emerged from the survey

as the main problem for Chinese/Asian Other students.

z Pakistani/Bangladeshi students were more likely than other groups to feel that they did not get enough encouragement

from lecturers (see survey data in Appendix Table A9).

Our qualitative work allowed us to explore further how minority ethnic students felt about their achievements to date. Most of the students were fairly satisfied with the way that they had

1 _{First years were excluded, as they had not yet had their first round of} end of year exams.

performed during their studies, although some felt they could have done a little better. In some cases, students mentioned personal circumstances, such as periods of illness or family problems, as having had a negative influence on their academic performance. Others felt that the disorganised nature of the course (arising from institutional problems) had affected them adversely. A lack of one-to-one support available from personal tutors etc. was also highlighted as an issue of concern for some. Complaints included that the lecturers and tutors often seemed to have too many students to deal with, and too little time to give each student adequate time and attention. The extent to which this, and also other negative comments relating to course organisation and quality of teaching, is a particular problem for minority ethnic students is unclear from this data. However, other research (see section 5.2) suggests that some minority groups are less likely to seek support when they experience problems.

A few of the students interviewed also pointed out that there was not always very much mixing between the ethnic groups, people tended to stick with people very similar to themselves. Others said that they themselves found it hard to mix with people from different ethnic or cultural backgrounds. As highlighted above, feelings of isolation in an academic culture is an issue raised in research on retention (see section 5.2):

‘There is a bit of natural segregation between students by ethnic groups — they all hang out with each other.’ (Pakistani man, aged under 21, first year)

‘Many of the Asians I come into contact with here are ‘down to earth’ Asians — more traditional than I am, and they expect me to be as traditional as they are, so that can be difficult.’ (Pakistani woman, aged under 21, first year)

The conclusions we draw from this analysis is that a range of difficulties can form part of a students’ experience. Some, such as financial issues, are applicable to all ethnic groups, to a greater or lesser extent, whilst others (eg a lack of individuals from the same cultural background) affect minority ethnic groups in particular. However, it would appear that, on the whole, minority ethnic students do experience more difficulties whilst in HE, which can contribute to poorer academic performance, and may affect their degree outcome (as discussed further in Chapter 6) although further work is required to confirm this.