At universities across the world, the call to “decolonise” education has moved from the margins to the mainstream. Once dismissed as a radical slogan, it now sits at the heart of debates about who higher education serves, whose knowledge it values and how it shapes the societies around it. At King’s College London, these questions are no longer theoretical: they are driving a concerted effort to rethink curricula, challenge entrenched structures and open up academic spaces to a broader range of voices and experiences.
“Decolonising and Diversifying Higher Education: Progress, Practice and Possibility” examines how one of the UK’s leading universities is grappling with this complex, contested agenda. Beyond headline statements and strategy documents, it looks at what is changing in lecture halls and seminar rooms, in research projects and hiring practices, and in the everyday culture of the institution. It explores the tensions between ambition and implementation, and between symbolic gestures and substantive reform.
Through the perspectives of students, academics and professional staff, the article traces the progress made so far, the practical initiatives underway, and the possibilities – and also the limits – of transforming a university built on deeply rooted traditions.At stake is not only the content of what is taught, but the power dynamics of who gets to define knowledge in the first place.
Reframing the Curriculum How King’s Is Challenging Canon and Centering Marginalised Knowledge
At King’s, course teams are moving beyond tokenistic “add-on” texts and instead interrogating whose voices have historically shaped entire disciplines. Lecturers are working with students, community partners and archivists to redesign reading lists, case studies and assessment methods so that knowledge from the Global South, Indigenous traditions and diasporic communities is treated as foundational rather than supplementary. This involves asking critical questions about how power, empire and race have informed what is regarded as “core” theory, and introducing multiple epistemologies that challenge the assumption that knowledge flows only from elite Western institutions.
- Co-created reading lists that integrate scholarship by women, Black, Asian and other racialised researchers as central texts.
- Place-based and community-led projects where students learn with local organisations, not just about them.
- Assessment redesign that values oral histories, creative outputs and collaborative work alongside conventional essays.
- Critical canon mapping exercises that make visible whose work is quoted, cited and funded.
| Discipline | Traditional Focus | New Critical Lens |
|---|---|---|
| History | Imperial narratives | Colonial resistance and memory |
| Medicine | Eurocentric clinical trials | Global health inequities and race |
| Law | British legal tradition | Anti-colonial and human rights frameworks |
| Literature | Canonical authors | Transnational and migrant narratives |
Inside the Classroom From Pedagogy to Assessment What Decolonising Practice Looks Like in Action
In lecture theatres, seminar rooms and studios, change begins with the questions educators ask and the voices they centre.Staff move beyond single “diversity weeks” by embedding multiple knowledge systems into core syllabi, inviting students to interrogate how theories are produced, by whom, and for whose benefit. This might mean pairing canonical texts with scholarship from the Global South, using community co-created case studies, or designing activities where students critically map the colonial histories of their disciplines.Assessment shifts from high-stakes exams that reward memorisation of dominant narratives towards formats that value positionality, reflection and lived experience-for example, research blogs, oral histories or collaborative digital projects that foreground marginalised perspectives.
These shifts are supported by a rethinking of everyday teaching practices: who speaks, who is interrupted, whose examples are normalised as “standard”. Inside classrooms, educators adopt clear marking criteria, share power over discussion topics and invite students to help shape assessment rubrics. Small design decisions signal big cultural changes:
- Multiple modes of assessment (written, visual, audio) to recognise different strengths.
- Accessible reading lists with short, open-access texts alongside longer academic works.
- Regular formative feedback framed as dialog rather than judgement.
- Shared ground rules for respectful debate and challenge.
| Teaching Focus | Conventional Approach | Decolonising Shift |
|---|---|---|
| Core texts | Single, Euro-American canon | Plural, global and community voices |
| Classroom roles | Lecturer as sole expert | Students as co-knowledge producers |
| Assessment | Exam-heavy, individual | Mixed formats, collaborative options |
| Evaluation | Opaque criteria | Co-designed, transparent rubrics |
Beyond Tokenism Building Structures for Lasting Diversity in Recruitment Governance and Student Voice
At King’s, moving from symbolic gestures to embedded change means rethinking who designs, delivers and evaluates the university experience. Recruitment processes are being reworked to confront structural bias, with diverse staff and student panels, transparent criteria and data-informed decision-making shaping appointments at every level. This shift is supported by mandatory training on anti-racism and decolonial practice, as well as dedicated roles charged with monitoring progress and challenging complacency. In parallel, governance bodies are opening their doors wider: students from underrepresented groups are not simply invited to “consultation” events but are given voting seats, protected time and clear remit to influence policies on curriculum, assessment and campus life.
To ensure these developments endure leadership changes and shifting priorities, King’s is beginning to codify new norms into policy and practice. This includes:
- Co-created charters that set out rights, responsibilities and escalation routes for staff and student representatives.
- Ring-fenced funding for equity-focused initiatives, student-led projects and community partnerships.
- Regular public reporting on diversity in recruitment, progression and academic decision-making.
- Feedback loops that show how student and staff input directly shapes institutional decisions.
| Area | Old Approach | New Practice |
|---|---|---|
| Recruitment | Informal networks | Structured, transparent panels |
| Governance | Ad hoc consultation | Formalised student portrayal |
| Student Voice | One-off surveys | Ongoing co-creation and review |
Measuring Impact From Data Gaps to Accountability What Needs to Change Next at King’s College London
Even as institutional strategies multiply, the evidence base for change at King’s remains uneven, obscured by patchy data and narrowly framed metrics. Attainment gaps,staff representation and student experience surveys often sit in separate silos,making it challenging to trace how structural racism,colonial legacies and class inequalities intersect across the university. To move beyond annual headline figures, King’s must invest in richer, disaggregated datasets that capture how race, disability, gender identity, migration history and socioeconomic background combine to shape academic journeys. This means co-designing methodologies with students and staff, openly publishing trends, and adopting qualitative testimonies alongside quantitative indicators to document the lived experience behind the numbers.
Once these gaps are addressed, the question becomes who is answerable for what the data reveal. Obligation for decolonising and diversifying practice cannot be confined to diversity leads or staff networks; it must be embedded in departmental planning, promotion criteria and resource allocation. Clear lines of accountability, with transparent targets and timelines, are essential if commitments are to translate into curriculum reform, inclusive recruitment and culturally sustaining student support. The table below illustrates how King’s could align evidence, action and accountability across its governance structures:
- Link funding to demonstrable progress on inclusive pedagogy and staff diversity.
- Publish annual dashboards at faculty and program level, accessible to students and staff.
- Reward leadership that evidences sustained, co-created decolonising work.
- Protect time and training for staff to redesign curricula and assessments.
| Area | Key Metric | Accountable Role |
|---|---|---|
| Curriculum | % modules with decolonised reading lists | Heads of Department |
| Student Outcomes | Ethnicity attainment gap by programme | Faculty Deans |
| Staffing | Representation in senior roles | HR & Executive Board |
| Climate | Racialised harassment reports resolved | EDI & Safeguarding Leads |
To Conclude
As the experience at King’s College London shows,decolonising and diversifying higher education is not a single initiative or policy but a sustained rethinking of what knowledge is valued,who gets to produce it,and how it is indeed shared. Progress remains uneven and often contested, yet the work already underway-in curricula, classrooms, governance and community partnerships-demonstrates that change is both possible and measurable.The coming years will test whether these efforts can move beyond pilots and rhetoric to become embedded in the institution’s core practices. That will require consistent resourcing, transparent accountability, and a willingness to confront uncomfortable histories and present-day inequities. It will also mean listening closely to students and staff who have long called for transformation,and recognising them not just as beneficiaries but as co‑creators of a more inclusive university.King’s is not alone in this endeavour, but its trajectory offers a case study in how a research-intensive institution can begin to re-align its mission with a more global, plural and just understanding of knowledge. The question now is not whether higher education should be decolonised and diversified, but how quickly and how deeply universities are prepared to act-and who will ensure that the promises made today translate into lasting structural change.
