Giant Leap with Small Steps
Seema Nath, Doctoral Student
This question needs to consider lived narratives and experiences from the wider student body and a deep reflection on the part of institutes about why HE should invest in diversity, equity, and inclusion in the first place. Though the question asks what needs to change, I would like to write about both things that should not change alongside some that should. Arriving at the University of Cambridge was the first time I ever travelled out of my home country — India — and both academic and social life here has been a huge learning curve. Moreover, many students like me coming from the Global South start in such institutions when we are much older because to reach this stage it is a long struggle. Apart from this, there is a ‘awe-inspiring’ factor of being in a place dipped in history, reputation for academic excellence, grandeur, famous personalities, and academic heroes which sometimes makes you overlook or rather difficult to grasp that there may be a ‘crisis’ brewing at some levels and that it affects almost all students including myself.
Information about the various structures, expectations and requirements has been supremely helpful in navigating this doctoral journey. Yet, this information is not readily accessible and there exists a hegemony over certain knowledge and information that needs to end. Secondly, I have been often told that I am ‘lucky’ to have a supervisor who gives support for doctoral research, constructive feedback and helps to traverse the doctoral path of publications, conferences etc. While I am extremely thankful for that, equity in doctoral support should not depend on a stroke of luck and every student should receive constructive support. At the supervision level, the spectrum of doctoral support from supervisors can range from extremely low to structured to remarkably high support as widely reported.
The curriculum and pedagogy for doctoral students is often perplexing and though the challenges of developing a curriculum that caters to students from a variety of educational backgrounds are understandable, there is little clarity on how the existing curriculum and pedagogy addresses doctoral support. Hence this is an area that will benefit from developing an accessible and equitable curriculum and pedagogy. Lastly, the most helpful part of the doctoral program has been the community that exists of doctoral students, research groups, faculty and staff. They have helped to stay focused, derive inspiration, been an informal learning experience, exposed to new ways of thinking, helped to see different perspectives, provided means of representation, helped build solidarity, and a host of other benefits and therefore such communities should be fostered within every doctoral program.
Increasing and celebrating the diversity that exists and making space to include students with a range of differences and providing them accessible and inclusive support that can translate to equitable learning experiences through the doctoral program will help shape students who will take these ideas into the world. The doctoral journey has shaped me as a person and I have experienced growth, maturity and made gains both academically, intellectually and socially including getting the voice and feeling empowered enough to pen this piece and believe that it might make a difference for other students and for that I will be forever indebted. Besides the academic gains, this culture of empowerment and growth is the one that should define one’s journey in the UK HE and not one besieged by racism, lack of support and/or events and experiences that chip away the person.
