Paul Miller admits that it is an odd time to be launching a higher education institution focused solely on equality and diversity.
The former head of education at the University of Greenwich has founded the , in London to offer MBAs in leadership for equity, diversity and organisational development at the same time as “everything is anti-EDI”, as he puts it.
Attacks on diversity – spurred on by the likes of Donald Trump and Nigel Farage – have made his job as a champion more difficult but he feels this only underpins the importance of its work.
“Having an actual outfit whose complete work is around EDI [Equity, Diversity and Inclusion] sends a very strong message, especially at a time when it is under attack.”
So far, they have received some “nasty tweets”, but nothing too extreme. “I am under no illusion that we are working in an environment of significant risk and hostility, and this will only make me walk around with an even bigger target on my back”, he said.
“I know that setting up the?Institute for Equity comes at a time of significant personal and professional risk. I expect the bullets in the post, I expect the anthrax in the post. I expect all of these things. But you have to stand up for something.”
Miller, whose research has focused on racism and inclusive education and is the only black professor of educational leadership in the UK, had no intention of setting up an institution after he left Greenwich in 2020.
He was approached for consultancy work after workplaces looked to boost their anti-racism efforts following the death of George Floyd in the US and the launch of the Black Lives Matter movement, leading him to set up his own consultancy.?
The journey from consultancy to educational institution?was a natural evolution as he began introducing accredited courses and launched an academic journal, Equity in Education and Society.
The institute – thought to be the first of its kind – recently gained permission from the Department for Education to use the word “university” in its name and is validated by Buckinghamshire New University.
It has about 50 students and roughly 20 employees, with alumni spanning civil servants, education providers, academics and heads of HR.?
Campus resources on equity, diversity and inclusion
Despite its expansion, Miller acknowledges that it is hard to attract staff to an emerging provider because it can’t always compete on pay, and “in the back of people's minds: you’re young. Are you going to survive? Do you have longevity? They are almost sussing you out and weighing you up.”
There are wider systemic issues facing new institutions around regulation and gaining accreditation. “Many universities are not keen to partner with small organisations unless they’re making a certain amount of turnover annually”, Miller said, which is exacerbated when an institution has a specialism like EDI.
It is now looking to gain university status in its own right, which would allow its students to receive student loans and international students to gain study visas.
“When I set up [my consultancy] I was just setting up something to live by,” Miller reflects. But now, as the Institute for Equity, University Centre has evolved, so have his ambitions: “We have a real interest in changing society for the better.”
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