Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Alumni Focus Groups

We are looking for BAME Durham University alumni identifying as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) to attend a focus group call with two BAME Research Assistants about your experiences while studying at Durham University.

The group will predominately explore support provision for students from minoritised ethnic groups, as well as sense of inclusion and belonging within the University. We want to know if you felt connected to people and the institution while studying and if more could have been done to make you feel welcome and support you to succeed.

These focus groups are part of a set of activities leading to a grant application to Research England and the Office for Students, aimed at improving access and participation for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups in postgraduate studies in the English Higher Education sector.

Your views could help us to decide what strategies can be implemented to improve the experiences of BAME students in Higher Education, especially at Durham University. Outputs of the sessions will influence how we use the money and what initiatives and projects we will propose if successful.

The sessions will be an hour long and hosted through Microsoft Teams or Zoom dependent upon preferences.

What to expect:
• It will be a casual chat with some questions about your experiences
• An explanation of why we want alumni to provide input
• A brief overview of the grant objectives
• Your thoughts towards improvements to be made/any ideas to improve the sense of community, engagement within Durham University

IMPORTANT:
o Confidentiality and anonymity will be guaranteed.
o We recognise that students from BAME backgrounds are not a homogenous group. However, depending on the number of volunteers coming forward, we will try to explore the specific experiences of particular ethnic or faith groups during the sessions.

Location: Online
Dates: Tuesday 6 April and Monday 12 April (depending on availability of volunteers).
Time: 5pm to 6pm BST

Please contact alumni.office@durham.ac.uk to express your interest.

Best wishes,
Adriana Salazar
Lead Business Analyst