Ethnic Inequality in Higher Education: Investigating the Effectiveness of DEI Policies in Flanders.

Ethnic inequality in higher education institutions - the “ethnic gap” - is a pressing social issue in OECD countries, and particularly in Flanders (OECD, 2016; Jacobs e.a., 2009). Ethnic minority students continue to experience structural inequality, reflected in under-representation, lower academic achievement, well-being and sense of belonging compared to ethnic majority peers (JA-VLIR, 2023; OECD, 2016; Fleischmann, e.a. 2011, Colak e.a., 2020; Banerjee e.a. 2022) . These disparities not only contradict the promotion of equal opportunity and EU values of non-discrimination, but can also translate into economic inequalities, threatening a region's tax base, economic well-being, and social cohesion (Museus, 2008; Baysu e.a. 2023). Deep understanding of an OECD outlier like Flanders/Belgium will not just benefit the region concerned but also be relevant to ethnic inequalities in HEIs across diverse OECD contexts.

This research is part of the broader ENGINE project (Tackling the EthNic Gap IN higher Education), which aims to document the ethnic gap in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), understand the underlying mechanisms, and study how to effectively reduce these inequalities. Within this consortium, workpackage 2 focuses specifically on evaluating the effectiveness of DEI-policies in Flemish universities and university colleges.

Existing research on DEI policy effectiveness is fragmented across two largely disconnected strands. Critical race and diversity studies tend to be sceptical, highlighting the non-performative nature of DEI policies (Ahmed, 2006; Bhopal e.a. 2020; Kimura, 2014) arguing that such policies are mostly introduced to serve institutions neoliberal aims of competitivity, used to attract students in the global education market. Additionally, these scholars argue that real progress is often constrained by university management who fear change. Critical race theorists describe this as ‘interest convergence’ – diversity work is only accepted within the frame of those in power (Bell, 1980). In contrast, social psychology and organizational studies are more optimistic.
Despite valuable theoretical contributions, there are notable empirical gaps. Much of the critical scholarship is based on individual case studies in Anglo-Saxon contexts, limiting its relevance to continental European settings. Moreover, few large-scale, cross-institutional studies have been conducted to test these theories empirically or to assess the contextual effectiveness of different policy approaches (Museus, 2008: Leath e.a. 2021). In summary, to evaluate the effects of DEI policies on reducing the ethnic gap we need to 1) better understand the contributions of different types of policies and their different contexts, and 2) explore the relationship between DEI policies and diversity climates.

This study addresses these gaps through a multi-method, cross-institutional analysis of DEI policies across five universities and thirteen university colleges in Flanders. The first research phase focuses on mapping the current landscape of DEI policies. We analyse institutional policy documents using qualitative content analysis and critical policy analysis, inspired by Carol Bacchi’s “What’s the problem represented to be?” approach. This will form the basis for developing typologies of diversity policies.
At the time of the conference, all relevant policy documents will have been collected and a preliminary analysis completed. I will present early findings on how DEI is framed within Flemish HEIs, discuss the development of policy typologies, and outline the next steps in the research, including upcoming interviews and the integration of findings with other ENGINE work packages.