Exeter university

[Arofan]

Anyone with dc there? What’s the real deal with Exeter uni? I’ve heard lots of negatives about it in terms of ethnic diversity and how it can be very lonely. But it ticks all the boxes for the course DD wants to study including environment etc. Our dentist who is black also shared that his DD was there and loves it. We don’t want to miss out on a good university so pls let me hear about your dcs experiences.

I'm not black, but I hope you don't mind me answering ?
We live in a large, multicultural City. We are white.
dd looked at 6 universities. She went to Exeter's open day with a friend and her family so I didn't see it at first and obviously was asking her when she got home, what she thought.
It's odd, but the first things she said were . "We've had a lovely day - we went to the sea afterwards. It's really weird though, the lack of cultural diversity at Exeter"
Just thought it was quite striking that it really struck her that much (even as a white person) that it was the first thing she said about it (and it was the 6th open day she had been to).
Now, that might, or might not bother your dd.
It is a nice small City. my dd really liked the course there, however, it was her least favourite option of the places she visited despite the course being just what she wanted. She just felt it was a bit "small town".

Now, I want to be 100% clear that she hasn't gone there. This is what she picked up from her first visit, and she couldn't shake it off when they went for an 'applicants day' later in the year.
Others may have a different experience.

I was actually accepted for a course at Exeter. I made my mum drive 5 hours to see the uni I thought was my first choice. Exeter has a lot of charm, and the uni is very good. The moment I wasn't so sure about my choice; watching the only black girl I'd seen that day walk up a hill alone, books in hand, towards the university. I remember it quite vividly, she had a large puffy ponytail (kinda like me) and was taking slow, heavy, protracted steps up the hill. I couldn't read her expression, but she seemed quite lonely. I chose a different uni (there was more diversity but I still ended up the only black girl on my course). I put Exeter as my insurance choice.

I think it's commendable to challenge oneself, and I'm sure the students are as good/kind as anywhere else. Your daughter might be unfazed, and merely made an observation. Let her make the choice to challenge herself, or not. And good luck to her

(sorry, I mixed up the observation bit from the post above ) need coffee.

A lot of the top unis in the UK lack diversity, but students from all walks of life are creating little spaces for themselves through societies, have a look on their SU website for the different clubs and societies. Some unis have more than just the African Caribbean societies and they have Jamaican and East African societies too. Not saying they have a lot of members though but its a good start i guess

Sorry everyone I fell asleep 😴

@BackforGood that is very interesting to the extent your Dd noticed. Hmmm....

@JayDot500 oh that is so sad! See, this is the kind of thing I worry about. DD is looking forward to the whole uni experience, loads of friends, cooking together, walking together, going out etc. She’s happy about the small campus etc, that’s exactly the kind of bubble she wants.

@ that’s a good tip. I’ll have a look at their societies and see what I can find.

One expects to be a minority but not the kind where all heads turn as you walk by (and not for the reason DD would like), of 50 pairs of eyes stare at you as you walk into the lecture theatre. Always on the fringes and never really part of anything. I don’t know what it is about Exeter, it just seems to have an unwelcoming vibe towards black students but every time we try to shortlist Unis, we always end back with Exeter? It’s a perfect fit for her on paper.

@Nopenotsureigiveahoot don’t know what happened to your name in the above post it seemed to disaster. Thanks for the tip about societies, I will check.

My niece just graduated from Exeter, she had a dreadful time. I was her closest family (her parents are abroad) and I had grave concerns for her mental health. She made it through but wouldn't recommend Exeter to another black person. The lack of diversity is well known, but apparently there is an unwelcoming attitude which pervades the university.

Exeter University is pretty bad for diversity. It's a shame because it's otherwise a good uni, in a great part of the UK (on paper). It's warmer and more scenic.

The area is home to Darkie day the blackface festival. And even though it didn't have a racist origin it happily turned racist for decades by singing ministrel songs until that stopped being politically correct. Now it's supporters do the typical 'I'm not a racist dance' and usual cognitive dissonance. They want everyone to remember and value centuries past and forget the nasty bit in the middle.

Overall Exeter is just not good enough for bright black students to put up with a bad experience when there are better options for diversity and student life like Bristol, or better ranking universities like Lancaster and Loughborough.

Avoid imo it's just not worth it.

Overall Exeter is just not good enough for bright black students to put up with a bad experience when there are better options for diversity and student life like Bristol, or better ranking universities like Lancaster and Loughborough

I really wanted to be convinced otherwise, but @pinkhibiscus nieces experience sounds pretty bad and yes, those other universities mentioned aren’t shabby at all are they

A black acquaintance loved it and made great (all white) friends, but she had grown up in a small town and gone to a school with no diversity so was well used to this. It may be a shock to the system if this isn’t your norm

My cousin said if you are black, don't bother.

What about York? That’s another good one on paper for DD but usually met with 🙄.

It's going to be hard to judge without being able to visit on open days. I really want to know about diversity for my DD.

You can also go on the HESA website for university statistics relating to a load of things including ethnicity data of students. You are also welcome to email a university's equality, diversity and inclusion manager as well.

I work for a University and know that these colleagues would answer any queries received from the public. Generally all our emails are public

My daughter went to Exeter....had a ball...

I'm white but when my dd was looking at unis she also said it wasn't culturally diverse and because she's used to living in that environment, she noticed it too.

She ended up at Soton and that's far more diverse.

I have a nephew who went to York. He said he couldn't find a barber there and so travelled to another city to get his haircut but otherwise had a good time.

I'm sure he used to travel to Leeds.

Stuff like getting hair done, being able to buy hair products and make up by going into a store if you want to, shouldn't be overlooked particularly if your going to be a few hundred miles from home. This is one of the reasons myself, family and friends were careful what unis we went to. The other thing is if you have any medical conditions particularly ones that are more common in black people you are better of in city/large town with a diverse population.

The other thing is if you have any medical conditions particularly ones that are more common in black people you are better of in city/large town with a diverse population.

This is so important. My husband used to work in a small town, and once had to drive to nearby Oxford to pick up a friend's brother (from the uni) and rush him to a London hospital for urgent care for his condition.

I’m reading. Thanks for all your very valid points.

I hadn't considered medical conditions.
We live in a large city so I don't think DD is naive but not sure she really realises that not all cities are as diverse. Without the benefit of open days I am wondering whether to steer her towards unis in large towns.

Op I know Exeter very, very well. It's lovely but very, very white. For a large family who have each other's support I'd say it would feel a challenge. For a student first time away on their own I'd say I wouldn't recommend. I feel sad saying that as it means Exeter will never change.

@foreverandalways Is your DD black?

Diversity is something my DD was very concerned with when applying to Universities, especially living in London. She started Uni this year.

She's brilliant at research and she looked at the statistics of ethnic minority groups for the Universities she was interested in and the cities as a whole. She would drill down to the percentage of Black and Asians too, as a lot of stats lump them together.

She struck Exeter of her list because of the lack of diversity.

I also have a colleague who told me she went to an open day there....admittedly some years ago and one of the lecturers was convinced she would know a student who was at Exeter at that time, because they were both Asian and lived in London.

I would say let her go to an open day, but I expect they're all virtual now...so I'm not sure she'll get a feel for it.

OP, your thread just highlights so many things as black people have to think about in these situations. Nobody wants to be the odd one out...or have a spot the black person situation in a place they live.

Overall student satisfaction is higher for Black students than white students (National Student Survey, 88% satisfied compared with 86%)

BAME students enjoy better graduate outcomes then white students including higher progression rather to postgraduate study

This is part of a statement received from Exeter. Can anyone shed any light on these findings? the first part, I will look into myself via NSS but the second part I'm not sure where to look?

The second part I'm guessing could be an internal survey of some sort Arofan . Perhaps ask them for a copy? Thing is, BAME is a big catch all word. It could cover 99 Chinese overseas students, and 1 British student who is black iyswim.

I'm never sure how accurate stuff like that is, when they don't quote a source, or who, or how many, were surveyed etc.

I found this report produced in 2019, foreword by Valerie Amos. Best to go to the end and read the conclusions as it's 88 pages. Not sure if it is of much use to you, I can't see mention of Exeter specifically. I'm retired now, and it's been a while since I was involved with H.E.
universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/reports/Documents/2019/bame-student-attainment-uk-universities-closing-the-gap.pdf