Leaders from more than 35 local black and minority ethnic (BME) businesses and community groups gathered together recently as part of a new initiative launched by City of Bristol College.

Improving links with the BME community

The BME event, held at the College’s Ashley Down Centre, enabled local leaders to discuss how the College can attract more applicants from black and minority ethnic backgrounds and those invited signed up to a new Ambassador scheme. Each person has the opportunity to become a College Ambassador with a focus on building and improving links with the BME community.

Les Caunce, Head of Human Resources and Organisational Development at City of Bristol College, comments: “We are making effective links with local black and minority ethnic businesses and communities to promote the College as a fantastic place to work and study.”

Stengthening BME representation at the College

“This new initiative is just one part of a wider programme that we are developing to strengthen BME representation among our workforce. The programme aims to enable prospective job applicants to gain a thorough understanding of the College’s equalities agenda, and we are confident that this initiative will help us to ensure that the local BME population is fully represented in our workforce.”

“At present, 16% of our students and 7% of our staff are from a black and minority ethnic background. The more BME teachers we can attract, the more likely we can present our students from BME backgrounds with appropriate role models. We hope our new Ambassadors can help us do this.”