Race Equality Charter Silver awarded to LJMU

Liverpool John Moores University has been awarded Race Equality Charter Silver, one of only ten universities in the UK to have achieved the prestigious equality award. 

Established in 2015, Advance HE’s Race Equality Charter (REC) supports institutions in their work to drive out racism and tackle inequalities across student and staff communities. 

One of ten ‘Silver’ universities in the UK  

LJMU has joined the list of only ten universities in the UK to have achieved the recognition, which represents the highest current level of achievement available in the charter and requires proof of significant, sustained progress, measurable cultural impact, and effective implementation of action plans across race equality. 

The Race Equality Charter helps higher education providers improve the representation, experience, progression and success of racially minoritised staff and students within higher education. 

This award is a wonderful recognition of how far we’ve come, but more importantly, it’s about the difference we want to make and the actions we will take going forward.

LJMU was awarded Race Equality Charter Bronze status back in 2022 and over the past four years has focused on meaningful actions to reduce the student attainment gap, support and recruit ethnically diverse staff and develop an inclusive culture where all students and staff feel they belong. 

Vice Chancellor, Professor Mark Power, Vice Chancellor, said: 

“Achieving REC Silver status is a real achievement and a credit to our commitment within the university to ensure we tackle inequalities, celebrate our differences and support our students, staff and wider community.” 

Going for gold 

More than 30 colleagues from across the university have contributed to the Silver accreditation submission, making it a real cross university effort. 

The university is now looking ahead to strive for Gold charter status when accreditation becomes available with Advance HE. 

Tina Purkis, Chief People Officer and Moni Akinsanya, Associate Director, Diversity and Inclusion led on the application for the university. 

Tina said: “I’m incredibly proud that LJMU has achieved the Race Equality Charter (REC) Silver Award, making us one of just 10 universities nationally to achieve this recognition so far. Moving from Bronze to Silver ahead of schedule is a fantastic achievement, but the real work continues.” 

What are LJMU’s REC four key priority areas? 

The university now has 17 key actions and 68 sub-actions focused on improving race equality for our students and staff across four key priority areas: 

1. Create a more representative and equitable workforce

2. Improve student success, experience and belonging

3. Embed race equality within leadership, governance and institutional decision making

4. Strengthen institutional capability for sustainable change through organisational learning and continuous improvement. 

Moni said: “This award is a wonderful recognition of how far we’ve come, but more importantly, it’s about the difference we want to make and the actions we will take going forward. Thank you to the REC Delivery Working Group, diversity and inclusion team and everyone who has contributed to this journey.  

“This achievement belongs to all of us, and we should be so proud of what we’ve accomplished together.” 

Find out more about race equality at LJMU 

You can find out more about Diversity and Inclusion at LJMU or the Advance HE Race Equality Charter accreditation process.