Racism and classism at Exeter ?

3

I would really really really like to go to Exeter, but I am currently in the Manchester area, and travelling 200 miles away is daunting already. I’m Arab, but I’ve lived here my whole life and the abhorrent racism I’ve recieved is disgusting. I really don’t want to go to a uni that may have more people with racist and classist attitudes. I’d like to hear from current students on if it’s an issue or not, bc I rly want to go there as the area surrounding Exeter looks amazing, the south is the only area I haven’t been to in the entire UK and I was really looking forward to it until a lot of people told me reconsider because of classist / racist attitudes at the university.

Reply 1

Muttley79

20

Original post

by abdose2341

I would really really really like to go to Exeter, but I am currently in the Manchester area, and travelling 200 miles away is daunting already. I’m Arab, but I’ve lived here my whole life and the abhorrent racism I’ve recieved is disgusting. I really don’t want to go to a uni that may have more people with racist and classist attitudes. I’d like to hear from current students on if it’s an issue or not, bc I rly want to go there as the area surrounding Exeter looks amazing, the south is the only area I haven’t been to in the entire UK and I was really looking forward to it until a lot of people told me reconsider because of classist / racist attitudes at the university.

A number of years ago some students were expelled for racism in the law faculty - Exeter take racism seriously.

There is a huge INTO cohort each year and there is an 'Arab and Islamic studies degree' on site.

On the website there is an opportunity to talk to students. Search for your degree and ask.

https://www.exeter.ac.uk/

"The University of Exeter is home to 30,000 students, including 7,000 international students from over 150 countries"

Reply 2

ExeterStudentRep

Official Rep

13

Original post

by abdose2341

I would really really really like to go to Exeter, but I am currently in the Manchester area, and travelling 200 miles away is daunting already. I’m Arab, but I’ve lived here my whole life and the abhorrent racism I’ve recieved is disgusting. I really don’t want to go to a uni that may have more people with racist and classist attitudes. I’d like to hear from current students on if it’s an issue or not, bc I rly want to go there as the area surrounding Exeter looks amazing, the south is the only area I haven’t been to in the entire UK and I was really looking forward to it until a lot of people told me reconsider because of classist / racist attitudes at the university.

Hi abdose2341,

Thanks for your interest in studying at the University of Exeter, and I'm sorry to hear about the experiences you've had in Manchester. Racism is not acceptable in any form. As Muttley79 has mentioned above, the University of Exeter takes racism very seriously and is committed to making the campus an inclusive and safe space for all members of the community. You can find out more about the university's anti-racist work on our website here, and also specific support for student's here.

I'm a current PhD student at the University of Exeter's Penryn Campus, and studied here for my Master's and undergraduate degrees too. I'm white and so can't comment on experiences of racism, however, I did share some similar concerns to those in your post about classism and moving to a different part of the UK for university. For context, I'm originally from a state school background in the West Midlands and so was worried about fitting in with a certain stereotype that I'd heard about the university.

Once arriving at the University of Exeter, I found that the student body was much more diverse than I expected, including students not just from different backgrounds and areas of the UK, but also internationally too. As Muttley79 has mentioned, there are over 30'000 students across our campuses, including a large proportion of international students too. I was also surprised with how easily I was able to connect and relate to students who had totally different backgrounds to my own, whether that be from sharing accommodation together, an interest and passion for studying the same subject, or shared love for a sport club or society. Mostly everyone I met was incredible welcoming, warm and friendly. If you're particularly worried about meeting like-minded people, I'd suggest looking at our list of university societies and communities - which you can find here - and includes many groups for students from specific backgrounds or to cater for specific interests. For example, from your post you might be interested in North Net, a society for meeting other students and celebrating Northern culture, or the 93% club, which is a student community focused on inclusivity and empowering state educated students.

I'm a scientist by training, so I also find it useful not only to talk about my own experiences but also to look at the numbers. The Times University rankings collect annual data on all the universities in the UK, including various factors which they group together under the topic of social inclusion. You can access that information here, and sort by different topics such as the % of ethnic minority students or % state-school admissions. It might be worth exploring some of this data and looking at Exeter, as well as your other choices, to see how they all compare. I think the most powerful message here is that there isn't really such a thing as a stereotypical University of Exeter student, and that students from a diverse range of backgrounds are all welcome to study here. That attitude is also shared by the overwhelming majority of students and staff that I've met in my 10 years studying here so far.

If you're able to, I'd highly encourage you to visit the university on an upcoming offer-holder open day, or to arrange to join one of our regular campus tours. Perhaps the best way to see whether the university is for you is to see it for yourself and talk to our student's directly. In doing so hopefully it will reassure you of some of your concerns and demonstrate that the University of Exeter really is for everyone.

I hope that reply has provided some reassurance, but please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any further questions.

Kingsley
University of Exeter Student Ambassador

Racism and classism at Exeter ?

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