The University of Wolverhampton Business School has launched an innovative, inclusive programme that provides pathways of aspiration and success for students from Black and Global Majority backgrounds. The new JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) programme offers students a range of workshops, mentoring, conferences, events and networking to create focused guidance to unlock their potential.
Ahecia Taylor, Lecturer in Business Management in the University’s Business School, said: “JEDI is about making fair attainment possible, making ambitions visible and providing equity to the communities that need it most.
“Black and Global Majority refers to people who are Black, African, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and or, have been racialised as 'ethnic minorities’. Globally these groups currently represent approximately eighty per cent (80%) of the world's population, making them the global majority now, and with current growth rates, notwithstanding the Covid-19 pandemic, they are set to remain so for the foreseeable future.
“With many British Black and Global Majority students reaching University without having had any formal education covering their own racial and cultural history, many students have suppressed their inner self-identity, have been told they can’t succeed and that they don’t belong at University.
“The programme represents a real culture change at the University of Wolverhampton and is designed to dispel mainstream thinking of Black and Global Majority communities as being unsuccessful. JEDI provides students with the opportunity to see and hear people with similar lived experiences as themselves and to show them the potential of the things they can achieve.”
Lewis Amissah, first year Business Management degree student, said: “The reason I was interested in joining the JEDI programme was because I wanted to meet people – last year during lockdown I wasn’t able to get out and get involved in activities.
“The networking aspect of the programme intertwines with my course and helps me with my studies. I also come into contact with different cultures, learn about different things and meet different people with different experiences.
“My ambition is to get into the jewellery industry, and this programme and the connections I’m making through JEDI are really helping me with my learning and, in particular, my debating skills.”
You can find out more about the JEDI project on the University’s website. Anyone looking to study at the University of Wolverhampton should register for one of our forthcoming Open Days.