“It’s white people teaching us about white people."
According to a new study, British Asian chemistry students often suppress aspects of their cultural identity, struggle to report racism and experience a lack of diversity within UK chemistry departments and curricula.
Researchers say these factors could help explain why British Asian students often achieve lower degree results than their white peers.
Funded by the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Inclusion and Diversity Fund, the study examines the experiences of British Asian chemistry students across UK higher education.
It also offers practical recommendations for chemistry departments to better support students and create more inclusive courses.
Black, Asian and minority ethnic students have consistently achieved lower degree results than white students, even when prior educational attainment is taken into account.
A 2019 report from Universities UK and the National Union of Students found that 68% of Black, Asian and minority ethnic students received a first or upper-second-class degree in 2017.
This was around 13 percentage points lower than the figure for white students, which stood at 81%.
However, researchers say studies often combine different ethnic groups and degree subjects, making it difficult for individual departments to understand how best to support their students.
To explore these experiences in greater depth, a UK research team conducted around 60 face-to-face interviews with British Asian chemistry students from four universities: Leeds, Durham, Warwick and Bradford.
Nimesh Mistry at the University of Leeds, who was involved in the study, said:
“There was no outright racism in any of the students’ experiences – we didn’t see any reports of that.
“A lot of the things that we have [seen] are more subtle [and] more hidden amongst the students.”
Several students described a lack of representation among chemistry staff and within their university curricula.
One student felt this made chemistry “inaccessible to brown people”, noting:
“It’s white people teaching us about white people.”
Students also described feeling excluded from sports societies and social events involving alcohol, particularly when these activities conflicted with their religious beliefs.
Some said they hid aspects of their cultural background to fit in at university.
This included “putting on a posh accent at university” or changing their appearance and clothing.
Others felt embarrassed about telling their peers they lived at home, despite commuting often being influenced by family decisions.
Namrah Shahid, who interviewed students while at Durham University, highlighted the difficulties created by long laboratory hours and placements away from home.
The issue can therefore extend beyond university life, potentially affecting students’ access to work experience and future employment opportunities.
The research recommends several measures that chemistry departments could introduce to improve students’ experiences.
These include creating specific sports and social societies for British Asian students and amending timetables to make commuting from home easier.
Researchers also recommend creating better pathways for students to report racism and other concerns.
Shahid argues that “being a British Asian [student] is a compounding thing”.
She added: “It’s gender, it’s commuting, it’s race, it’s class, it’s religion, it’s family background, it’s being first gen to university.
“There are so many things that feed into how these students are and I think the universities acknowledging that would definitely be a step forward.”
The findings suggest that improving outcomes for British Asian chemistry students requires more than addressing academic attainment alone.
Greater representation, more inclusive curricula, flexible approaches to commuting and clearer reporting systems could all help students feel that they belong within chemistry departments.
