Moving beyond ‘what works?’: A multi-source analysis of effectiveness of interventions to close the ethnicity awarding gap in English universities

The Ethnicity Degree Awarding Gap (EDAG) has been a persistent problem in British higher education for decades. While the literature on the topic has flourished in recent years, it has yet to translate into closing the gap fully. This has led us to interrogate the evidence base for what works in closing the EDAG. We undertook three-part desk-based research, including (1) a systematic review of academic literature, (2) review of grey literature from key sector bodies and (3) quantitative analysis of nationwide publicly available data sets on the size of the gap and approaches to tackling it. Literature reviews reveal that EDAG interventions tend to be small in size, lack in-depth statistical evaluations and/or demonstrate mixed results. Our quantitative analysis provided no definitive answers on the effectiveness of approaches to close the gap. We conclude that there is a need for more robust, sector-comprehensive investigations that look beyond ‘what works’ and consider quality of interventions and institutional contexts. The paper provides a significant health-check of the state of evidence on the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of initiatives aimed at closing the EDAG, with important consequences for future policy developments, both for individual institutions and the sector as a whole.