by Emma Biginelli Macchia

Students at the University of Kent are calling for the curriculum to be decolonized. This means that they’re asking for more non-white and postcolonial content to be included into modules and reading lists, so that more black and ethnic minority students can relate to it.

The society Decolonise UKC, born in September, has been holding discussions and focus groups this week to listen to BME students and the issues they have to face on campus. They will also launch their manifesto at a conference in March.

Lisa Shoko, a third year law student from Zimbabwe, is one of the focus group leader. She said: “Students are in a position where by they’re studying subjects that are not relevant to them, or that are too Eurocentric, too old, or not universal enough.”

She added that BME students often have little access to material relevant to their background and that can actually help them. “We’re just trying to make it that there’s a broader range of things that students haveaccess too.”

Doctor Suhraya Jivraj, a Senior Law Lecturer at the University of Kent, has been helping the students run the activities. She said that the BME attainment gap, the idea that ethnic minority students achieve less than their white counterpoints, could be linked to a colonised and Eurocentric curriculum. She said: “The job that universities should be doing is facilitating students to be critical thinkers, with access to a full range of global knowledge.”

Also a focus group leader, Jasmyn Seargent, from Trinidad and Tobago, joined the society to see what she could do to make sure students got in touch with different perspectives. She said: “There are a number of issues going on globally. You have one matter, but different interpretations.”

Universities UK recently released a report surrounding the attainment gap for BME students in Higher Education in the UK. According to their research, the attainment gap is at 13.2%.

Decolonise UKC are trying to reach more and more students across all the university. For more information, you can find them on FB (Decolonise UKC) and on Twitter (@DecoloniseUKC).