Decolonising the Arts Curriculum: Perspectives on Higher Education

Decolonisation has become an increasingly important issue for British universities and is resulting in various forms of institutional decolonisation strategies. UAL have done much work in the past decade to address inequalities related to ethnic and national identity, including support for the establishment and successful development of Shades of Noir, founded and directed by Aisha Richards. Yet such issues of inequality persist, and are indicated by gaps in attainment between students of colour and their white peers. These gaps are persistent across the UK higher education sector, and are particularly wide in Art and Design, compared to other subjects. There are many factors known to be causing these gaps, and one factor is the narrow nature of the curricula offered at most UK universities, and of particularly exclusive practices in arts pedagogy.