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British academics with black or Asian ethnicity were less likely to be selected for inclusion in last year¡¯s research excellence framework (REF) than their white colleagues, even when other factors were controlled for, a study has revealed.

According to the research by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, black scholars were much less likely to be selected, a discrepancy that remained even when factoring in other variables such as whether they held a PhD, their contract status, previous location and grade.

In terms of raw percentages, Asian academics were as likely to be included as white colleagues. But they were found to be underrepresented when other factors were controlled for.

Men were far more likely to be selected than women, although this could be explained by control variables, concluded the report Selection of Staff for Inclusion in the REF 2014, which was released last week.

david.matthews@tesglobal.com