Minoritisation of Higher Education Students

Ruth Mieschbuehler is the Programme Leader for the BA Education Studies at the University of Derby, UK and an Executive Committee Member of the British Education Studies Association (BESA).

Dr Mieschbuehler’s book will shake up conventional thinking about the ‘student-centred’ university by revealing the perverse consequences of well-intentioned policies and practices which undermine the academic achievement of all students. These policies and practices are riddled with and supported by the relativism that is rife in academia and in one powerful chapter she demolishes it. All academics, university managers and administrators need to read this book and take up her challenge to discuss and debate the issues she raises.Dennis Hayes, Professor of Education, University of Derby, UK, and Director of Academics For Academic Freedom.‘This is a timely and necessary challenge to what sometimes appears to be an unassailable orthodox position on educating students from an ethnic minority background. It will be a breath of fresh air even to the many who will disagree with its position, encouraging debate.’ Dr Kevin Yuill, Senior Lecturer in American History, University of Sunderland, UK ‘In this original and challenging book Ruth Mieschbuehler critiques mainstream thinking around minority ethnic attainment within education. She effectively demonstrates how policies designed to help reduce inequality can actually serve to increase the minoritisation of the recipients of such interventions’Ken McLaughlin, Senior Lecturer in Social Work and Social Change, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK‘University faculty, administrators, and instructors will benefit from this examination of the factors that lead to a perception, and troubling reality of an attainment gap among ethnic minority students in higher education. This book demonstrates through theory and student voices that the minoritisation of ethnic students is largely a result of unexamined tropes and perspectives. This is a critical examination of a debate that encompasses all university personnel who are invested in diverse and inclusive learning environments for students.’Richard Reddick, Associate Professor in Educational Administration, University of Texas at Austin, USA.

• 1. Introduction 2. The ‘ethnic’ attainment gap 3. Shifts in academic thinking 4. Categories and categorisation 5. Equality and education 6. Student grouping 7. Participatory versus intellectual engagement 8. (Un)equal treatment 9. Academic study 10. Beyond experience: why discussion and debate is important 11. Summary and conclusion