UK academics outside the sciences are more than twice as likely to describe themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual compared with the general population, according to new research.
The study, which compares census data to sector records collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, suggests that fears of LGBT+ under-representation within British universities may be “unfounded” – and, on this basis, its authors warn that “affirmative action” schemes designed to increase the recruitment of students and staff from these groups “may be unlawful”.
In a preprint posted on the Social Science Research Network, John Armstrong, reader in financial mathematics at King’s College London, and Alice Sullivan, professor of sociology at UCL, note that 3.4 per cent of the adult population in England and Wales described themselves as LGB+ in the 2021 census, rising to 4.4 per cent among those with Level 4 qualifications or higher.
This compares with 8.2 per cent of all UK university staff in the Hesa record, and 8.4 per cent among academics only.
