Our scholarship project focused on the experience of South Asian female students in their final year(s) of university study. We were particularly interested in the experiences of students who study online, at a distance. Through a greater understanding of motivators and barriers to their achievement, we hoped to identify initiatives that can be put in place to bridge the awarding gap between White and Asian students.
Recognising the importance of intersectionality, we set out to explore:
- experiences of concurrent study at level 3
- the relationship between study, work and family and gender
- identity, belonging and support at the university
- curriculum and teaching and learning practices.
We worked with a sample of nine students who self-identified as British South Asian from Pakistani or Indian backgrounds using visual narratives, semi-structured online interviews and two group workshops. We analysed quantitative data on students’ assessment outcomes and awards to understand the individual student journeys and collective trends.
Although our sample was diverse in terms of the participants’ backgrounds and experiences, we found considerable similarities in terms of their personal characteristics. All participants showed high levels of resilience, self-motivation and drive to achieve independence through education and career progression.
All participants showed high levels of resilience, self-motivation and drive to achieve independence through education and career progressionThey reported how they balanced their multiple roles and identities as mothers, wives/single parent, daughters, daughters-in-law, carers and students. They shared their challenges in shifting between these identities and fulfilling the associated responsibilities. However, they showed confidence in their identity and abilities to do this.
Their narratives also affirmed existing evidence that Asian students experience greater isolation in their study experiences – one participant had never actually spoken to anyone in six years of study. Our participants talked about the value of social media contact with other students but the difficulties they experienced in making contact, understanding the informal ‘rules’ of social media contact and the lack of visibility of other students from Asian backgrounds.
Most found it difficult to identify specific challenges they face as South Asian students, but their narratives spoke powerfully of the significance of intersectionality and the layering of gender, social-economic background, disability, culture and religion in defining the experience of female students from South Asian backgrounds. While none of the participants reported experiences of racism or micro-aggressions, their narratives spoke of a lack of visibility of themselves and their lives in their overall university experience.
Several factors were identified that supported students’ learning including the online flexible nature and design of their study, quality of teaching and learning resources, individual study support, extensions, special circumstances considerations, safeguarding support, computing help, study choice guidance and above all having supportive relationships with tutors.
Most participants found final level study more challenging with a big jump in terms of criticality and the amount and complexity of content. They suggested a variety of ways in which the university could improve teaching and learning practices including more contact with tutors, facilitated contact with other students, bitesize teaching resources, ongoing study skills and academic language support. All participants agreed on the need for a clearer articulation of how to access resources and support and more frequent interactions to break the isolation and enrich the learning experiences.
Our findings affirm the need to take action to address the sense of isolation experienced by many of our Asian students by building an authentic, meaningful and inclusive community for all our students. Ongoing work to decolonise the curriculum needs to take a holistic approach which addresses the wider student experience, visibility and relationship building, and university culture as well as curriculum content.
Notably, consideration of representation and power dynamics within the scholarship team, flexible, creative research methods, open questions, and opportunities to interact with researchers from South Asian backgrounds themselves, provided an opportunity for participants to be seen, listened to, and interact with other South Asian women. The project has opened up opportunities for further interaction between the participants and researchers in relation to career planning and also providing the safety for them to offer challenging feedback on negative experiences which require a considered and institutional response. These would not have been heard without this study.
All participants in the study passed their modules in the 2022 academic year – four participants attained a first-class honours degree. Our findings challenge the stereotypes and deficit assumptions that arise from the analysis of data around South Asian students. Our scholarship celebrates the achievements of our participants and demonstrates the academic resilience of South Asian women and how they cope with the demands of their multiple roles and associated challenges.
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