Following on from the work our Health and Society Officer, Ayo Ubikitan, who shone a light on the discrimination placement students face in the School, it was great to hear the Vice Chancellor (VC) offer a positive update about ongoing work in this space at University Senate. The campaign that Ayo led included testimony from students from across a number of courses and he spoke at length about the issues and microaggressions that BAME students face.
The VC was appreciative of the efforts of the new Officer team, and thanked us for continuing to highlight this campaign. As part of his update, he said that through conversations with senior NHS colleagues, there is confidence that matters are heading in the right direction and that staff across hospitals and clinics who take in students for placements understand the scale of the problem. It’s clear that whilst this won’t result in huge change straight away, there is a real commitment to making sure that staff across placement providers are more wary of discrimination and do better to challenge it. The VC’s words were encouraging but at the same time, we want more to be done in this space, and sooner. We’ll continue to raise this in relevant spaces and committees.
We’re always more than happy to speak to students about this, so get in contact if you have any questions! My email is A.Malik27@Salford.ac.uk