1. business and industrial
2. biomedical

Can I Stay or Shall I Go? – Factors
Influencing the Participation of Black
and Minority Ethnic Science,
Engineering and Technology (SET)
Graduates in SET Occupations in the
Northwest
Dr Kate Booth – Project Manager
Dr Haifa Takruri-Rizk – Co-project Manager
Dr Lalith Welamedage – Research Fellow
Dr Kamel Mansi – Research Fellow
Anne Millan – Administrator
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The regional position
• Skills base ‘critical to the economic development of the
region’
• Exploitation of the science base and R&D by
implementing the Northwest science strategy is
important to the Regional Economic Strategy
• SET skills are an important part of this growth
• BME students are over-represented in SET degrees
compared to their proportion in the population (UK and
Northwest)
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However…..
• Ethnic minorities are under-represented in the SET
labour market
• Proportionately more BME students move out of the
region after graduation than White SET students
Percentage of SET graduates remaining in region after graduation*
BME
White
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
* HESA First Destination Survey for 2004/2005 (all degrees)
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Profile of Respondents
Undergraduates
•
•
•
1100 questionnaires distributed
102 responses (9.3%)
• 68 White (67%)
• 34 BME (33%)
7 face-to-face interviews
35.3
Female
BME
25.8
White
64.7
Male
74.2
0
20
40
%
60
80
Graduates
•
•
•
842 questionnaires distributed
66 responses (7.6%)
• 35 White (53%)
• 31 BME (47%)
11 face-to-face interviews
26.5
Female
BME
36.8
White
70.6
Male
61.8
0
20
40
60
80
%
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Profile of Respondents
Employers
• 2400 questionnaires distributed
• 45 responses (2%)
• 7 face-to-face interviews
1
– Sector:
• 53.4% SET (24)
• 46.6% Other (21)
– Size:
•
•
•
•
29% Micro (13)
33.3% Small (15)
24.4% Medium (11)
13.3% Large (6)
4
29
1
10
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Why do a SET degree?
Undergraduates
• BME and White students most influenced by own interest
• Family influence is greater for BME students
• Teacher influence is greater for White students
Influence on degree programme
48.5
Own decision
56.9
21.2
Family
10.8
3
Teachers
0
BME
White
12.3
10
20
30
40
%
50
60
• 76.4% of BME and 64.7% of White students want to pursue a
career in SET
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Future career prospects
• BME students were
– more pessimistic about career prospects
Students' views on career prospects in SET
47.7
Good
63.4
33.3
Not good
24.4
Northwest (White)
Northwest (BME)
19
Don't know
12.2
0
10
20
30
40
50
% 60
70
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Perceived challenges
• BME students were
– more concerned about racial discrimination
Students' perceptions of challenges
Other
Other discrimination
Competition
Cultural issues
Need to re-locate
Experience
Level of qualification
Racial Discrimination
White
BME
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
%
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SET degrees and careers
Graduates
• Influences on degree choice similar to those for undergraduates
• More BME graduates (64.7%) working on jobs closely related to
degree than White graduates (50.0%)
• Differences in factors affecting job choice
Important factors when selecting a job
Easy to get to work
BME
Attractive benefits
White
Attractive salary
Career prospects
Relevant to degree
Job content/type of duties/work assigned
Job itself
0
20
40
60 % 80
100
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Finding a job
Graduates
• Marked differences between BME and White graduates
%
Time between graduation &
employment
Job applications, interviews and
offers
60
35
50
30
40
25
30
20
15
20
10
10
5
0
White
BME
Before graduation or immediately after
1 - 6 months
6 - 12 months
Over 12 months
Unemployed or not answered
0
White
BME
Average number of job applications
Average number of interviews
Average number of job offers
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Characteristics of the job
Graduates
• Majority working in government/public sector/HE/FE
• More BME graduates (81.3%) working in large organisations than
White graduates (66.7%)
• Greater trend for BME graduates than White graduates to leave
the region
• 7.5% of BME and 5.9% of White graduates thought that they had
experienced unfair treatment that was racially or religious relief
based.
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Employers’ views
“Defining reasons for recruitment are qualifications plus skills.
Ethnicity is irrelevant. Where helpful, we have provided
language coaching.”
“We really struggle. …. you don’t get the percentage of ethnic
minorities that you would expect. Out of say 200 people come
to an event, you may get five, six ethnic minority people come
in. At the bigger recruitment events, we get a high proportion
of foreign students coming looking for generally
undergraduate work, some graduate scheme things but in
general it’s a very low percentage that actually come to the
events.”
(Large SET Employer)
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Employer practices (1)
Recruitment
• A mismatch exists between recruitment and job-search methods
Comparison of recruitment and job-seeking methods
70
60
%
50
40
30
20
10
0
Print media
Informal
methods
Professional
sources
Employers
Internet
University links
Graduates
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Employer practices (2)
Policies and procedures
• Use of equality and diversity policies and procedures is very
varied
Use of E&D policies and diversity training
100
90
80
70
%
60
Micro
50
Small
40
Medium
30
Large
20
Science
10
Engineering
0
Technology
Written E&D policy
Mandate diversity training
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Employer practices (3)
Career development
• Larger organisations offer better opportunities
Career development opportunities
100
80
%
60
40
20
0
Micro (1-9 empl.)
Small (10-49 empl.) Medium (50 – 250
empl.)
Large (Over 250
empl.)
Human Resource Development policy
Dedicated training budget
Accredited to Investor in Peoples standards (IIP)
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Conclusions &
Recommendations
BME SET students and graduates move out of the region for two
main reasons
•
Students (generally) are not well informed about the opportunities
available in the region
•
Expectations of racism and lack of apparent employer commitment
to E&D policies and practices, particularly within smaller
organisations, lead to fears of discrimination and a tendency to look
for jobs with large organisations
Therefore employers need to
• Promote opportunities in the region
•
Be more proactive in developing and promoting good practice
•
Review the impact of their recruitment methodologies
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Contact Details
Kate Booth
k.m.booth@salford.ac.uk
Haifa Takruri-Rizk
h.takruri-rizk@salford.ac.uk
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Acknowledgements
The project team would like gratefully to acknowledge the support
of the European Social Fund (ESF) who provided funding for the
project.
The European Social Fund helps to support the people of the
Northwest to enter jobs, improve their skills and develop their
potential at work. More information about ESF can be found at
www.esf.gov.uk
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