York hosts transformative White Rose Equity in Leadership programme
Posted on 2 July 2024
This week, the University is set to welcome members of the White Rose Universities Equity in Leadership Programme to campus for an innovative workshop on communication, change, and personal branding. This event marks a significant milestone in our commitment to fostering diversity and inclusion in higher education leadership.
The White Rose Equity in Leadership Programme, a pioneering initiative developed by the White Rose University Consortium in collaboration with the Universities of York, Leeds, and Sheffield, aims to support the career progression of global majority* talent. The programme's equity-based approach is designed to diversify leadership within both academia and professional services.
Participants in this six-month pilot programme will receive tailored career support, driven by their own needs and aspirations. The programme includes three in-person training days, online masterclasses, and networking events, co-designed and delivered by Leyla Okhai, CEO of Diverse Minds and an award-winning practitioner.
“York is proud to be delivering this groundbreaking pilot programme in collaboration with our White Rose Consortium partners. Initiatives like this, that work to ensure staff from all backgrounds can fulfil their potential, are a core priority for us. We recognise that ethnic minority colleagues face numerous barriers to career progression, including conscious and unconscious bias within recruitment processes and a lack of visible role models at leadership levels. At York, we have made efforts to address these barriers, but we know that there is still much more to be done. This is why delivering programmes like Equity in Leadership is so important to us” said Charlie Jeffery, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of York.
The importance of this programme cannot be overstated. Recent data from Advance HE (2023) highlights a significant underrepresentation of global majority individuals in senior leadership roles: only 6.5% of UK global majority academic staff hold senior positions, and a mere 12.2% occupy professorial roles. The figures are similarly low in senior leadership within professional services at 7.7%.
The programme structure includes three thematic workshops: ‘Values, Influence, and Networking’, ‘Communication, Change, and Personal Branding, and ‘Imposter Syndrome, Recruitment, and Resilience’.
Each workshop is followed by a networking event with senior leaders from the partner universities. Participants will also benefit from supportive relationships with sponsors, mentors, and coaches, fostering a robust support system for professional growth and systemic change.
The White Rose Equity in Leadership Programme is more than a career development initiative; it is a catalyst for a cultural shift towards inclusivity and equity in higher education leadership. By investing in these practices, we are paving the way for a stronger, more resilient institution reflective of our values as a university for the public good.
*A note on terminology
The University recognises the importance of racial and ethnic terminology and understands that individuals use different terms to identify and represent themselves. In keeping with the commitment to co-creation for this programme, the Equity in Leadership Programme team asked all participants to vote on the term that they felt best represented them. The term "global majorities" received the most votes, as it provides a more positive perspective compared to the othering narrative of "minority groups."