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  5. Enhancing the value placed on diversity: from the international classroom to the global workplace

Research project

Enhancing the value placed on diversity: from the international classroom to the global workplace

  • Start date: 1 August 2022
  • End date: 1 September 2024
  • Principal investigator: Dr Maria Hussain
  • Student interns: Aditya Jindal (Laidlaw Scholar) and Lorena Molla

Description

The university and the world are changing - students and graduates need to be well-equipped to study, work and manage diversity to thrive in an increasingly interconnected and diverse workplace. It is therefore crucial that we enable all students to realise the value of diversity and intercultural understanding to be effective leaders and global citizens of the future.

However, recent studies (Rose-Redwood and Rose-Redwood, 2018; Harrison and Peacock, 2010; Leask, 2009) have shown that there are underlying barriers to engagement between different student groups, which may inhibit diverse ways of working and thinking and thus negatively impact on equitable student experience, outcomes, and thus graduate employability (Advance HE (Higher Education), 2020).

Data reported in recent studies (Ely and Thomas,2020) on the impact of ‘diversity’ in organisations indicates that having diverse perspectives at all levels of an organisation is pivotal to effective decision-making in the workplace and crucial for a more equitable society. It is thus vital that the value of diversity is really foregrounded during the student life cycle to not only enhance the learning experience but to nurture more inclusive, equitable global leaders of the future.

Research overview

The principal project impacts are outlined below:

  • Deliver cutting-edge research on student-centred, interdisciplinary, employability and interculturally enabled learning through delivery of two pilot interventions.
  • Engage with students, external partners and graduate recruiters to better understand attitudes and the value of ‘diversity’ in relation to global graduate employability readiness.
  • Develop evidence-based guidelines to inform curriculum development and enhancement in support of the University’s strategy.

This project is funded by the Leeds Institute for Teaching Excellence (LITE) and the University of Leeds’ Cultural Institute.

Impact

  • Awarded Leeds Cultural Institute interdisciplinary funding 2024 to disseminate some of the findings visually in collaboration with Leeds City Museum through an exhibition titled 'Muslims in the North'

Group photo from Muslims in the North exhibition launch

(From left to right: Adam Jaffer, Curator at Leeds City Museum; Professor Ghazala Mir, Chair in Global Health Equity at University of Leeds; Dr Mumtaz Patel, consultant nephrologist, RCP Vice President for Education and Training and Associate Dean PG with NHS England; Nazir Afzal OBE, former Chief Crown Prosecutor of North West England; Dr Maria Hussain, Associate Professor in Management and Organisations & Director of Student Equity; and Dr Shames Maskeen, Lecturer in Psychology at Leeds Trinity.)

Four icons for law, research, commerce and healthcare, surrounding an illustration of Leeds City Museum, for the Muslims in the North exhibition

  • Yorkshire Consortium for Equity in Doctoral Education (YCEDE) preliminary findings drawn upon to co-design and deliver advocacy training to PhD supervisors across five Yorkshire universities resulting in two PhD students being successful in their doctoral programme applications.
  • Case study of “Muslims in the North” exhibition will be included in the upcoming Museums Association “Museums Essentials” course, due September 2024.

Publications and outputs

Conferences

Dr Hussain has presented key findings from this project at the following conferences:

  • European Association for International Education (EAIE)
  • International Society for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (ISSOTL)
  • Chartered Association of Business Schools (CABS)
  • Advance Higher Education (formerly the Higher Education Academy in the UK) (Advance HE)
  • National Education Opportunities Network (NEON)

Awards

Three photos overlapped. Two show Dr Hussain at the awards ceremony and the other, largest picture shows Dr Hussain's runner up certificate.

 

Media

Contact

Dr Maria Hussain

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