Multi-faith in policy only?: Religion and belief inequalities at UK universities since the Equality Act

Kristin Aune; Tom Fryer; Lucy  Peacock; Mathew Guest

doi:10.1080/01425692.2025.2557570

Multi-faith in policy only? Religion and belief inequalities at UK universities since the Equality Act

Kristin Aune
, Tom Fryer
, Lucy Peacock
, Mathew Guest

Research Centre for Peace and Security

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The Equality Act 2010 requires universities to eliminate harassment, ensure equality of opportunity and promote good relations for those of different religious or philosophical beliefs. The attention universities give to these obligations varies. This article analyses survey data from 4,618 students to examine religion and belief-related experiences and inequalities in universities in relation to the Equality Act’s three foci: eliminating harassment; equal opportunities; and good relations. The article adopts the lens of equality/inequality, assessing differences between religious groups and types of university, and draws upon Ahmed’s and Elgström’s work on the complexity of equality policy implementation to account for the endurance of religion and belief-related inequalities. Despite the positioning of ‘religion or belief’ as a protected characteristic and diversity-friendly language such as ‘multi-faith’, inequalities remain, with religious students, and students at certain types of university, especially vulnerable to unequal treatment compared to their peers.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	(In-Press)
Number of pages	21
Journal	British Journal of Sociology of Education
Volume	(In-Press)
Early online date	30 Sept 2025
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2025.2557570
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 30 Sept 2025

Bibliographical note

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. the termson which this article has been published allow the posting of the accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.

Funding

Funders
Porticus UK
Spalding Trust
Durham University

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 4 Quality Education
SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Keywords

religion
higher education
universities
policy implementation
Inequalities
Equality Act

Access to Document

10.1080/01425692.2025.2557570Licence: CC BY

Multi-faith in policy only Religion and belief inequalities at UK universities since the Equality ActFinal published version, 2.08 MBLicence: CC BY

IDEALS UK: Building positive relationships among university students across religion and worldview diversity
Aune, K. (Principal Investigator), Guest, M. (Principal Investigator), Mayhew, M. (Co-Investigator), Rockenbach, A. (Co-Investigator) & Peacock, L. (Researcher)
1/08/21 → 31/07/23
Project: Research

Comparisons Across Higher Education Contexts: Findings from Collaboratively Adapting an Interfaith Diversity Study
Bowling, R., Staples, B. A., Mayhew, M., Rockenbach, A., Guest, M., Aune, K. & Peacock, L., 26 Sept 2025, (Accepted/In press) In: Comparative Education Review. (In-Press), p. (In-Press)
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
How can universities support students’ interfaith learning? Findings from a longitudinal survey of students in the UK
Aune, K., Peacock, L., Rockenbach, A., Guest, M. & Mayhew, M., 4 Sept 2025, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Higher Education. (In-Press), p. (In-Press)
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Building student relationships across religion and worldview difference
Peacock, L., Guest, M., Aune, K., Rockenbach, A., Staples, A. & Mayhew, M., 2023, IDEALS UK. 44 p.
Research output: Book/Report › Other report

File

Cite this

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abstract = "The Equality Act 2010 requires universities to eliminate harassment, ensure equality of opportunity and promote good relations for those of different religious or philosophical beliefs. The attention universities give to these obligations varies. This article analyses survey data from 4,618 students to examine religion and belief-related experiences and inequalities in universities in relation to the Equality Act{\textquoteright}s three foci: eliminating harassment; equal opportunities; and good relations. The article adopts the lens of equality/inequality, assessing differences between religious groups and types of university, and draws upon Ahmed{\textquoteright}s and Elgstr{\"o}m{\textquoteright}s work on the complexity of equality policy implementation to account for the endurance of religion and belief-related inequalities. Despite the positioning of {\textquoteleft}religion or belief{\textquoteright} as a protected characteristic and diversity-friendly language such as {\textquoteleft}multi-faith{\textquoteright}, inequalities remain, with religious students, and students at certain types of university, especially vulnerable to unequal treatment compared to their peers.",

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N1 - This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the creative commons attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. the termson which this article has been published allow the posting of the accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.

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AB - The Equality Act 2010 requires universities to eliminate harassment, ensure equality of opportunity and promote good relations for those of different religious or philosophical beliefs. The attention universities give to these obligations varies. This article analyses survey data from 4,618 students to examine religion and belief-related experiences and inequalities in universities in relation to the Equality Act’s three foci: eliminating harassment; equal opportunities; and good relations. The article adopts the lens of equality/inequality, assessing differences between religious groups and types of university, and draws upon Ahmed’s and Elgström’s work on the complexity of equality policy implementation to account for the endurance of religion and belief-related inequalities. Despite the positioning of ‘religion or belief’ as a protected characteristic and diversity-friendly language such as ‘multi-faith’, inequalities remain, with religious students, and students at certain types of university, especially vulnerable to unequal treatment compared to their peers.

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JO - British Journal of Sociology of Education

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ER -

Multi-faith in policy only? Religion and belief inequalities at UK universities since the Equality Act

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Projects

IDEALS UK: Building positive relationships among university students across religion and worldview diversity

Research output

Comparisons Across Higher Education Contexts: Findings from Collaboratively Adapting an Interfaith Diversity Study

How can universities support students’ interfaith learning? Findings from a longitudinal survey of students in the UK

Building student relationships across religion and worldview difference

Cite this