This research was conducted by The Research Centre at City College Norwich in response to a request from the Senior Management Executive (SME) for an independent review of issues and actions emerging from a report, produced by Funding and Standards, at City College, on equal opportunities monitoring data for the academic year 2002-03 (Chadwick, 2004).

Principal findings revealed:
• Reports on equal opportunities monitoring of all higher education (HE) students are not currently produced on a regular basis, although statistics on the HE student body can be generated from data available from individual learner records
• Detailed records on work based learners are held and used to generate data on work based learners at City College Norwich which is reported regularly to the LSC for monitoring purposes. However, there is little internal dissemination of the results in terms of gender, disability/non disability and ethnicity
• There is a significant degree of non-disclosure regarding ethnic origin, registered at 8.1% in 2002-03; rates of non-disclosure for disability and learning difficulty were even higher
• Learner participation in further education at City College Norwich is higher for females, than males.  The traditional gender divide continues to be evident within a number of Schools
• There is some evidence of under achievement among 16-18 yr old male learners
• Participation rates for students with learning difficulties are thought to be well below the national average at City College Norwich, according to national figures from the British Institute of Learning Disabilities, although non-disclosure and definition problems temper this finding
• Pass and success rates for the majority ethnic groups are substantially higher than those of the black and minority ethnic groups.

Drawing on good practice in other colleges and institutions, and research initiatives at City College Norwich, recommendations made include:
• Further research into male underachievement, and attitudes affecting and determining the domination of one gender within some areas of learning
• The effectiveness and operation of mentoring schemes needs to be monitored, and support given to extend the practice which has proved extremely effective in other colleges around the country
• Recommendations from forthcoming results of the ‘Non-disclosure Project’ to be implemented, and considered for implementation to other areas of non-disclosure
• Celebration of non-stereotypical student success through marketing materials and public relations activities
• Adoption of a regular programme of action research to address specific local equality and diversity concerns, feeding through to monitored changes in provision and/or tailored staff development
Ensuring that a ‘cascade of responsibility’ for equality practice is in place, so that all staff take ownership of the College’s equality and diversity policy and practices.

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