Abstract
This report is about the careers of academics working in politics departments at universities in the United Kingdom. It focuses on three processes: attainment, promotion, and exit. Attainment means the academic rank achieved by an individual at a single point in time, and in particular whether an individual has attained senior academic rank by becoming a Senior Lecturer, Reader, or Professor. Promotion means any move from a more junior to a more senior academic rank, but in this report usually means moving to Senior Lecturer, Reader or Professor. Exit means ceasing to work in UK higher education.
Concerning attainment, the report finds that:
- Controlling for length of experience in higher education, members of staff from an ethnic minority are 5.6 percentage points less likely to be in a senior position (senior lecturer, reader, professor).
- Controlling for length of experience in higher education, female members of staff are 6.2 percentage points less likely to be in a senior position (senior lecturer, reader, professor).
Concerning promotion, the report finds that:
- There is insufficient data to draw conclusions about the impact of sex and ethnicity on the chances of promotion for individuals who began work in UK higher education in or after the academic year 2012/13.
Concerning exit:
Members of staff from an ethnic minority were 2 percentage points more likely to exit employment in higher education in any given year in the period 2012/13 to 2018/19.
EU nationals were 3 percentage points more likely to exit over the same period; non-UK, non-EU nationals were 2.3 percentage points more likely to exit.
Full-text
BISA host the report on their website.
Replication data
The data I use in this report was purchased from the Higher Education Statistics Agency thanks to generous contributions from the Political Studies Association and the British International Studies Association. Unfortunately it can’t be redistributed.