A contentious report from Birmingham University, a member of the prestigious Russell Group, has ignited debate in higher education by suggesting that traditional assessment methods, such as exams and essay writing, should be abandoned. The university claims these methods are measures of 'smartness based on white privilege' and disproportionately disadvantage students from ethnic minorities.

The astonishing assertion was made in a new paper focused on how to 'decolonise' its business school, decreeing that business degrees must transform their systems and structures to sever ties with 'colonialism and its legacies'. Reinforcing this perspective, Prof Sally Everett from King’s College London, in a commentary accompanying the report, extolled the 'unearned advantages of being white' and 'the privileges of whiteness', advocating for 'decolonising assessment'. She contended that conventional assessment practices 'perpetuate systemic inequalities' and proposed replacing them with 'low-stakes assessments', such as writing reflective journals.

The report concluded that assessment practices like in-person, timed exams or graded essays should be discontinued because they are potentially 'tools of exclusion' that 'marginalise knowledge' and devalue skills originating from 'non-Western traditions'. This initiative forms part of an Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) drive launched by the university’s business department, a direct response to the Black Lives Matter protests.

However, this radical proposal has met with strong opposition. Chris McGovern of the Campaign for Real Education expressed profound sadness, stating, 'Traditional forms of written assessment discriminate on the basis of intelligence, not on the basis of race.' He further argued that treating students from the global south as 'intellectually inferior and incapable' is patronising, infantilising, and demeaning, asserting, 'We need a decolonisation of the woke, empire not a dismantling of the foundation stones of the Western world.'

Titled ‘Decolonising a business school in context: from theory to practice’, the report is a component of a three-year project. Other activities undertaken as part of this project include excursions for business students to an art gallery, where they were exposed to race theory interpretations of various paintings and sculptures. The report acknowledged the potential discomfort of this work but framed it as 'hopeful'.

The actions taken by Birmingham University are indicative of a larger trend within higher education to eliminate exams, which are increasingly perceived as biased against specific demographic groups. Universities are also facing pressure to narrow the attainment gap in the proportion of firsts and 2:1 degrees awarded to white students compared to their ethnic minority peers. While it remains unclear how many academics have implemented the report’s recommendations thus far, a University of Birmingham spokesman defended the project as 'a product of academically rigorous research and discussions with academics within and outside of Birmingham Business School'. He added that the report suggests actions to help students 'understand and explore those different perspectives', highlighting that 'Birmingham Business School is a global business school educating students who come from all over the world. Understanding the world from multiple perspectives is a critical skill that we teach our future business leaders.'