Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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263. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the recent HEA survey which found that ethnic minorities in higher education more likely to be on lower pay; his views on same; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51881/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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In recent years, the Higher Education Authority has undertaken an extensive programme of work to address issues of gender inequality in higher education. In August 2020, I expanded the remit of the HEA’s Centre of Excellence for Gender Equality to cover all areas of equality, diversity and inclusion. As part of this extended remit, the HEA has been working with stakeholders to advance work in the area of race equality. In order to build a strong evidence base for future policy and funding decisions, the Higher Education Authority conducted this national survey of staff in higher education to develop a picture of race equality across the Irish higher education sector.

This report is extremely important as it gives us, for the first time, data in relation to the experience of staff from minority ethnic groups in Irish higher education. It highlights that higher education institutions have an opportunity to play a critical role in relation to racial inequalities in wider society. There is an opportunity for higher education to become a beacon of good practice in this area. This report is the first of its kind in this area and will help HEIs to keep pace with wider demographic changes in Irish society. Through the implementation of the recommendations of this report, the HEA’s Centre of Excellence for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion will continue to advance race equality in higher education in collaboration with HEIs, their representative bodies and other key stakeholders.

A central recommendation of this report is the systematic collection of data which will provide the necessary evidence base regarding staff and student representation, access and outcome by ethnicity. From December 2020, as part of the HEA’s ongoing work in the area of staff equality, diversity and inclusion, HEIs have been requested to return staff ethnicity data to the HEA. This is in addition to the collection of data on HEI staff by gender. To foreground this request, the Athena SWAN Ireland Intersectionality Working Group was established in 2019 by the National Committee for Athena SWAN in Ireland in conjunction with the HEA, with an initial goal to develop a cross-sectoral approach to collecting data on staff and student ethnicity in the Irish higher education sector. The group is open to staff members from HEIs with academic or professional expertise in this area as well as representatives from the HEA. This current focus on ethnicity data and race equality was specifically called for by HE stakeholders (particularly in relation to Athena SWAN requirements).

In May 2020, the Intersectionality Working Group produced a statement (hea.ie/assets/uploads/2020/07/Intersectionality-WG-Statement-on-Ethnicity-Categories-in-Irish-HE.pdf ) to provide staff in HEIs with information on the rationale for collecting ethnicity data and the complexities of categorisation. The statement also provides some context for race equality work in higher education, as well as recommended actions for HEIs to consider. The statement has been endorsed by 25 HEIs, as well as by the Irish Universities Association and the Technological Higher Education Association. In their statement the working group recommended that “the Irish higher education sector moves to create an evidence base regarding staff and student representation, access and outcome by ethnicity with the explicit purpose of recognising and tackling institutionalised racism and advancing equality in higher education.”

The findings of this survey highlighted potential variances in earnings across different ethnic groups. The next step is to ensure we have a comprehensive data set in relation to the ethnicity of HE staff. Due to the historical absence of such data, the HEA is working proactively with HEIs to ensure that such data is collected and provided to the HEA on an annual basis in order to monitor progress in this area. The proposed HEA legislation will allow for better collection of staff data across all equality grounds, including information on the ethnic breakdown of staff across our institutions.