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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 - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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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 ManagerDr Haifa Takruri-Rizk – Co-project ManagerDr Lalith Welamedage – Research Fellow
Dr Kamel Mansi – Research FellowAnne 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
* HESA First Destination Survey for 2004/2005 (all degrees)
White
BME
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Percentage of SET graduates remaining in region after graduation*
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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
Graduates• 842 questionnaires distributed• 66 responses (7.6%)
• 35 White (53%)• 31 BME (47%)
• 11 face-to-face interviews
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Profile of Respondents
29
1
4
1
10
Employers• 2400 questionnaires distributed• 45 responses (2%)• 7 face-to-face interviews
– 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)
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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
• 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
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Perceived challenges• BME students were
– more concerned about racial discrimination
Students' perceptions of challenges
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Racial Discrimination
Level of qualification
ExperienceNeed to re-locate
Cultural issuesCompetition
Other discrimination
Other
%
White
BME
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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
0 20 40 60 80 100
Job itself
Job content/type of duties/work assigned
Relevant to degree
Career prospects
Attractive salary
Attractive benefits
Easy to get to work
%
BME
White
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Finding a job Graduates• Marked differences between BME and White graduates
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
White BME
%
Before graduation or immediately after1 - 6 months6 - 12 monthsOver 12 monthsUnemployed or not answered
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
White BME
Average number of job applications
Average number of interviews
Average number of job offers
Time between graduation & employment
Job applications, interviews and 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
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Print media Informalmethods
Professionalsources
Internet University links
%
Employers Graduates
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Employer practices (2)Policies and procedures• Use of equality and diversity policies and procedures is very varied
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Written E&D policy Mandate diversity training
%
Micro
Small
Medium
Large
Science
Engineering
Technology
Use of E&D policies and diversity training
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Employer practices (3)Career development• Larger organisations offer better opportunities
Career development opportunities
0
20
40
60
80
100
Micro (1-9 empl.) Small (10-49 empl.) Medium (50 – 250empl.)
Large (Over 250empl.)
%
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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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
