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Both the University’s (UoS) and the HE sector benchmark data (Source: Advance HE Staff statistical report 2022) is drawn from the Higher Education Statistical Agency (HESA) staff return, allowing effective comparisons with the benchmark data.
The staff population includes hourly paid Academic Tutors (ATs) but excludes atypical staff such as Occasional or Casual Workers. The University of Sunderland data looks at staff in post as of 1 December 2021, whereas the Advance HE data looks at 1st December 2020. The Advance HE data used is for the UK, rather than just England.
The inclusion of fractional ATs skews the data for Academic staff, as they have a relatively small FTE but a high headcount. If ATs are removed from our data only 17.2% of Academics at Sunderland and 9.1% of Academics at London are part time, compared to 47.0% and 29.1% with them included. These revised figures are more in line with the full time/part time breakdown of Professional & Support staff who were more likely to be full-time than part time at both campuses.
Staff at London are more likely to be full time compared to Sunderland. If you exclude the ATs then in London 90.6% of staff are full-time compared to 76.2% at Sunderland.
Table 1 shows the numbers of full time and part time staff on both Sunderland and London campuses.
Unlike previous years, the largest age band for staff at Sunderland is now 36 to 40, in line with both London and the wider HE sector (Chart 1).
Chart 2 shows however the difference between the age profile of Academic staff and Professional & Support staff, particularly at London where the largest age band Professional & Support staff is 25 and under. In fact, three quarters of Professional & Support staff at London are aged 40 or under compared to less than a third of Academics At Sunderland, if ATs are excluded, the largest age band increases to 51 to 55.
Older employees are more likely to work part time, whereas younger employees are more likely to work full time. Similar trends are seen excluding ATs and across the sector. For example, nearly two thirds of employees aged over 60 work part time whereas the proportion of employees aged 30 and under working part time is less than one third.
The proportion of female staff at Sunderland is 59.4%. At London however, only 44.1% are female. This compares to 54.2% across the sector. Similar to the rest of the sector, the proportion of females was higher amongst Professional & Support staff at both campuses, with London having more female Professional & Support staff than male (56.2%) but its levels were still much lower than at Sunderland (66.5%) and across the sector (62.6%). Although the female proportion of Academic staff was lower at Sunderland than that of Professional & Support staff, they were still in the majority (53.4%). Whereas across the sector there were more male academics (only 47.0% were female), and at London there was a significantly higher proportion of males, with only 36.9% of Academic staff being female. If ATs are excluded the proportion of female academics decreases to 51.8% at Sunderland but increases to 37.9% in London.
The University has recently started collecting data on gender identity (as opposed to legal sex) but so far this field has been populated by only 27.9% of staff (28.3% at Sunderland and 24.1% at London). Of those 0.7% selected an option other than Man or Woman, all of whom were at the Sunderland Campus. If ATs are excluded then the proportion increases to 0.8% of staff (0.9%) at Sunderland.
Data is also collected on gender reassignment although only 40.1% of staff have provided it (excluding ‘information refused’). Of those 0.6% declared that their gender has been reassigned, all of which are at Sunderland Campus, meaning the proportion is 0.7% at Sunderland Campus. If ATs are excluded the proportion is 0.3% across the University and 0.4% at Sunderland. Across the sector they have this data for 34.2% of staff (excluding ‘information refused’). 1.1% of those staff have had their gender reassigned.
The above chart shows that women are more likely to work part-time than men across the University and the sector. This is particularly prominent with Professional & Support staff at Sunderland and across the sector, even if you exclude ATs at Sunderland (21.2% of female academics work part time versus 12.8% of male academics). At London however the gap between the different genders working part time is similar regardless of the staff group and actually increases amongst academics if you exclude ATs with 16.0% of female academics working part time versus 4.9% of male academics.
The proportion of staff with a self-declared disability has grown for the fifth consecutive year to 9.2% (up from 8.8% in 2020/21 and all the way from 2.7% in 2016/17). This is significantly higher than the HE Sector which, despite also increasing year on year, is 6.0%. London campus is lower than the sector however (5.6%). If ATs are excluded the disability declaration rate drops overall to 6.5% (6.4% at Sunderland) but increases at London to 7.2%. The benchmark data this year has grouped ‘Prefer not to say’ with ‘No known disability’ so for comparison purposes the same has been done for the University in the graphs.
Excluding ‘Two or more impairments’ where the detail of the disability is not included in this data, the most common disability remains long standing illness, which is in line with the sector. However, at London, specific learning difficulty is equally as common if ATs are excluded.
Academic staff are also far more likely to have declared a disability than their Professional & Support counterparts at Sunderland (12.9% (7.5% excluding ATs) compared to 5.5%) whereas the reverse is true at London (3.3% (4.5% excluding ATs) compared to 9.6%) and across the sector (5.1% compared to 7.0%).
Males are less likely to have declared a disability across the University (8.3% versus 9.8%). This is in line with the rest of the sector. In contrast to the sector where the most common disability amongst males is a specific learning difficulty, the most common disability amongst males at the University is a mental health condition.
The proportion of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) staff has increased to 11.5% from 10.2% the previous two years. This figure includes ‘Not known/Prefer not to say’ and increases to 12.1% if they are excluded. Figures quoted from this point include ’Not known/Prefer not to say’. When split by campus this figure varies drastically with BAME staff representing only 6.6% of staff at Sunderland, although this has increased since last year when it stood at 5.7%. This is compared to BAME staff being in the majority at London (60.5% of staff which is a slight increase from 60.4% last year). If ATs are excluded this reduces the proportion of BAME staff to 5.3% at Sunderland and 59.0% at London.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to get a comparative figure from the Advance HE data because they exclude people with an unknown nationality, regardless of whether they know their ethnicity. Therefore, an alternative, appropriate comparator is the BAME population in the local regions based on 2021 census estimated metadata. In the North East this has increased since the 2011 census to 7.0% from 4.7% and in London to 46.2% from 40.2%. London continues to employ more BAME staff than is representative of their local area, however Sunderland have now fallen behind the BAME proportion of the local region, although only slightly. In chart 5 those with ‘Not known’ nationality and/or ethnicity have been excluded for comparative purposes.
The proportion of staff from outside the UK has recommenced its growth of previous years after a dip last year (8.5% from 7.1%). This is significantly below the sector non-UK rate of 22.6%, however. As with the BAME population however, London campus varies significantly from Sunderland, with 32.3% of their staff being from outside of the UK (above the sector average) compared to 6.0% at Sunderland. Where London’s proportion has decreased slightly (from 34.5% in 2020/21), Sunderland’s proportion has increased (from 4.7%). If ATs are excluded London’s proportion is relatively unchanged (32.4%) however Sunderland’s drops to 4.9%. Of the BAME staff population, 38.1% at Sunderland and 33.1% at London came from outside the UK (or 30.1% at Sunderland and 34.1% at London excluding ATs).
At both campuses Academics are more likely to be BAME than Professional & Support staff (9.3% at Sunderland (7.9% excluding ATs) compared to 3.4% and 71.3% at London (77.3% excluding ATs) compared to 42.5%). They are also more likely to from outside the UK (8.7% at Sunderland (7.7% excluding ATs) compared to 2.9% and 37.7% at London (42.4% excluding ATs) compared to 23.3%). Male staff are also slightly more likely to be BAME at both campuses (9.5% at Sunderland compared to 4.6% and 69.7% at London compared to 48.8%) whereas although men are slightly more likely to be from outside the UK at Sunderland (6.8% compared to 5.5%), women at London are more likely to be International (34.9% compared to 30.3%).
As with previous years, London and Sunderland vary significantly in terms of the religious profile of their staff. London staff are much more religious than those at Sunderland with 72.8% following a religion (76.3% excluding unknowns) compared to 40.8% at Sunderland (48.3% excluding unknowns). Sunderland is more in line with the HE sector however where the proportion stands at 48.8% excluding unknowns. Of those that did select a religion however, the majority follow Christianity with that religion being selected by more staff than the remaining religions combined at both campuses and across the sector. In fact, at London Christianity is followed by twice as many people than follow ‘No religion’.
BAME staff are more likely to follow a religion compared to white staff (92.2% versus 51.5% at London, 76.8% versus 46.1% at Sunderland and 68.9% versus 44.3% across the sector (all excluding unknowns). Additionally older staff are more likely to be religious. At both campuses, and across the sector the proportion of staff following a religion increases with age. Looking at the 30 and underage group versus the 61 and overs for example the proportions following a religion are 31.5% versus 66.9% at Sunderland, 60.6% versus 84.6% at London and 37.2% versus 64.0% across the sector (all excluding unknowns).
Of staff that have declared their sexuality, both campuses have a lower proportion declaring a Sexual Orientation other than heterosexual than the rest of the HE Sector (6.0% at Sunderland and 3.4% at London compared to 7.5% across the sector). The proportions have increased compared to last year across the sector (from 7.1%), and at Sunderland (from 5.3%) but has reduced slightly at London (from 3.5%). This represents a return to an overall year on year increase after a dip last year (an average of 5.7% compared to 5.1% in 2020/21). This figure decreases at both campuses if ATs are excluded (to 5.6% at Sunderland and 3.1% at London).
Additionally younger staff are more likely to declare a Sexual Orientation other than Heterosexual. Looking at the 30 and underage group versus the 61 and overs for example the proportions declaring a Sexual Orientation other than heterosexual are 11.7% versus 2.1% across the University and 11.7% versus 3.7% across the sector (all excluding unknowns).