Race Equality Charter Survey

The Race Equality Charter Survey for students and staff will help us to understand your experiences of studying and working at the University of St Andrews. The aggregated data will be used to generate a Race Equality Survey Report and will contribute to a five-year Race Equality Charter Action Plan.

The Action Plan will be submitted as part of an institutional application for a Race Equality Charter award.

We want every student and staff member to complete the survey, regardless of your race or ethnicity, regardless of how you evaluate your experience of studying and working at St Andrews. Your response will add to the understanding of race equality at St Andrews that the Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment Team is building.

If we can maximise the number of people who respond to the survey, and if we can maximise the openness with which people respond, we will have the strongest possible rationale for the actions we implement to improve race equality and make St Andrews a better environment for people of all ethnicities. To build your trust in the process, we assure you that we will protect your anonymity throughout data handling and analysis.

Completing the survey will take approximately ten minutes - longer if you choose to elaborate on your responses. As this is an anonymous survey, you will not be able to save your responses before submission. Please therefore ensure that you set aside the time to complete the survey in one sitting.

The survey launched in November 2022 and closed in January 2023.

Principal Professor Dame Sally Mapstone FRSE and colleagues share their insights and reasoning for carrying out the Race Equality Charter Survey of all staff and students.

Video transcript

>>PROFESSOR SALLY MAPSTONE: As staff and students at the University of St Andrews, we are members of an institution steeped not only in history, but also in privilege.

As part of this privilege, people and structures within the University have enacted, excused, and normalised discrimination and racism.

Our values have moved on, but these injustices cast long shadows that still affect members of our community today.

>>When racially or ethnic minoritised staff and students have spoken out about our negative experiences.

>>We have reported discomfort.

>>Isolation.

>>Unfair treatment.

>>Disrespect.

>>Harassment.

>>DR AKIRA O'CONNOR: Bullying.

>>The lack of opportunity to be me.

>>To be me.

>>When we speak out, we must be listened to so that we can work together to put this right.

>>DR AKIRA O'CONNOR: The University Race Equality Charter team will generate a five-year action plan to make St Andrews a better employer, educator, and environment for people of all ethnicities.

To enact meaningful, enduring change, we must listen and act.

That's why we are conducting a survey of all staff and all students to understand your experiences of working, studying, and living here.

>>DR REBEKAH WIDDOWFIELD: Whether or not you identify as racially or ethnically minoritised, whether or not you have faced discrimination, your experiences matter.

We know that for some of you, the personal disclosures we are asking will take not only time, but emotional labour and may feel risky.

We want to assure you that, though we will use your responses to inform anti-racist actions and support inclusivity, your anonymity will always be protected.

>>PROFESSOR SALLY MAPSTONE: Acknowledging our history and its continuing legacy is painful.

But this discomfort is nothing next to the suffering of those who have experienced discrimination and racism.

We will earn your trust by listening to you and by acting on what you tell us.

Please give us the opportunity to put things right.

>>DR AKIRA O'CONNOR: Please take the Race Equality Charter survey.

The Race Equality Charter Survey is divided into two sections: Experiences and Demographics.

The Experiences section comprises multiple choice questions asking about your experiences of studying and working at St Andrews. Each set of multiple choice questions finishes with the opportunity to elaborate on your responses with text responses, should you wish to do so.

The Demographics section comprises questions relating to aspects of your identity. We will use aggregated responses to questions in the Demographics section to compare the experiences of different groups of students and staff.

At the end of the survey, there is a link to a separate form, through which you can provide your details to contribute to focus groups we will be running in 2023 should you wish to do so. These focus groups will be used to get an understanding of the survey results.
To protect your anonymity, we have set the survey up so that it is accessed via links that contain no identifiers. Because we have set the survey up in this way, you will not be able to save your responses or resume a partially completed survey. Other steps we have taken to protect your anonymity and confidentiality are detailed in our privacy notice, and are summarised below.

Aggregation and redaction: Data will be aggregated and redacted by the Planning Unit before being presented for statistical analysis by our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) team and the Race Equality Charter Self-Assessment Team. The Planning Unit will redact data where fewer than five responses contribute to an aggregation and passages within free text answers that identify yourself or others. The survey is therefore not a mechanism for formal complaints. Complaints and grievance procedures are signposted at the end of the survey.

Decoupling: Free text answers will be decoupled from school/department information and, where relevant, presented at faculty level.

Option to withhold information: As a small university community, some minoritised staff may be identifiable as the only person of their characteristics in their course or role. All questions contain a ‘prefer not to say’ response option, which we encourage you to use if you are worried about being identified.

Option to withdraw: If you start the survey and do not wish to complete it, simply close your browser window. Data from your partially completed survey will not be analysed. As the survey is totally anonymous, it will not be possible to opt out after submission. This is because there will be no way of identifying which completed survey is yours.

Race Equality Charter Survey

Format of the Survey

Protecting your anonymity

Protecting your welfare