**1. Introduction**

Diversity and inclusivity are becoming increasingly important issues within science, technology, engineering and mathematics - STEM for short – in Higher Education (HE) as universities strive to create a more welcoming and supportive learning environment for students from all backgrounds, that retain students from underrepresented groups. This chapter explores opportunities to create a more diverse and inclusive STEM HE community, which will not only benefit the students but also help address the wider societal challenges faced by STEM fields.

The UK STEM provision landscape is evolving with individual universities placing significant focus on creating their own specific initiatives to enhance diversity and inclusivity within their offering of undergraduate programmes. Even in 2023, the picture shows room for much improvement with statistics related to under-represented groups in STEM shining a spotlight on the areas that require continued efforts. To set the scene, let us begin by considering that in the 2019/2020 academic year, there were approximately 563,835 undergraduate students studying STEM subjects in UK universities. In 2019/2020 the most popular STEM subjects among undergraduates were Engineering and Technology, Biological Sciences, and Physical Sciences [1].

In the last decade there has been an unprecedented growth in students opting to take STEM subjects, suggesting the impact early STEM uptake in schools is having on higher education. Acceptances to engineering courses, for example, are up 21% from 25,995 in 2011 to 31,545 in 2020. Artificial Intelligence courses at university have seen an even greater increase, with acceptances onto computer science courses rising by almost 50%, from 20,420 in 2011 to 30,090 in 2020; a rise that is anticipated to continue given recent advancements in AI [2].

It is noteworthy that, historically access to STEM subjects have been harder for young people, particularly among students from disadvantaged backgrounds and females. However, in just a decade, between 2010 and 2020, there was a 49% increase in the number of women accepted into full-time STEM undergraduate courses. The number of UK 18-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds in this same 1-year span accepted into full time undergraduate STEM courses increased by 79%. This suggests that the increased support in STEM subjects is benefitting young people, with a gradual lift on potential barriers to access based on gender, race or class.

There have been a number of recent measures undertaken by the Department for Education to support STEM teaching. These include 'Isaac Physics', an online platform with resources designed to support students transition from GCSE through sixth form to university [3], a range of support for teacher CPD (e.g., Science Learning Partnerships, Stimulating Physics Network [4]), the Teaching for Mastery programme in mathematics [5] and an £84 million investment programme to improve computing teaching. Given that STEM subjects have a positive impact on the economy and society, the measures taken indicate a positive push in terms of applications to study STEM subjects at UK University, which complements the drive by universities to implement widening participation initiatives to increase access to higher education, focused particularly in STEM subjects.

Let us now consider some of the under-represented groups within STEM in Higher Education. In the 2020/2021 academic year, women accounted for 40.5% of undergraduate students enrolled in STEM subjects in the UK, with the gender balance varying among different STEM disciplines. There was a small increase in the percentage of females studying science subjects between 2019/20 and 2020/21, which remains lower than the overall percentage studying science subjects (45%). Notably, women make up a larger proportion in Biological Sciences (58.3%) compared to Engineering and Technology (17.8%) [1]. Furthermore, the proportion of female engineering professionals in the UK is among the lowest in Europe.

Ethnic diversity representation is still a challenge in some STEM fields. Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students accounted for 24.7% of undergraduate STEM students in the UK in the 2019/2020 academic year, highlighting the need for continued efforts to increase representation and support the success of BME students in STEM fields. The proportion of black first year undergraduate enrolments in science subjects increased by 4 percentage points in 2020/2021.

#### *Current and Emerging Trends within Higher Education That Enhance Diversity and Inclusivity… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.114240*

The proportion of STEM students with known disabilities has more than doubled, from 7.5% (12,585 students) in 2007/2008 to 15.5% (33,530 students) in 2018/2019 [6]. On the surface this might suggest that, during that ten-year period, STEM subjects were attracting students with disabilities. However, a more complex picture is revealed upon breakdown of the statistics. From 2007/8 to 2018/19, the number of first-degree STEM students reporting mental health conditions rose from 675 to 8695 – a 1184% increase, suggesting the overall increase is being driven by an exponential rise in the proportion of students *declaring* learning differences and mental health conditions. In the same period, the number of first-degree STEM students reporting a learning difference increased from 6500 to 12,000 – an 84.7% increase. Interestingly, non-STEM subjects also experienced this upward trend which likely reflects greater awareness of, and improved support for, students with learning differences and mental health issues at universities.

Despite improvements in assistive technology and student support, students with disabilities who wish to study in STEM still encounter considerable barriers, with the proportion of students with physical disabilities hardly changing over the same ten-year period. For example, STEM students who are deaf or have a serious hearing impairment made up 0.3% of STEM students in 2007/08 (470 students) and 0.3% in 2018/19 (590 students). In some instances, the proportion has even decreased slightly, for example, the number and proportion of STEM students who are blind or have a serious visual impairment has decreased from 0.2% (285 students) in 2007/08 to 0.1% (270 students) in 2018/19 [7].

In the 2019/2020 academic year, 24.9% of undergraduate students in STEM subjects were from POLAR4 (the measure of what proportion of young people in a given area participate in higher education) quintiles 1 and 2, indicating lower participation neighbourhoods. These statistics provide a snapshot of the current undergraduate STEM provision, inclusivity, and diversity data within the UK in the last decade or so. It is important to note that the landscape continues to evolve, and individual universities have their own specific initiatives and data. This chapter aims to provide an overview of some of the current and emerging initiatives within HE, collated from a variety of online data sources, that highlight trending areas of good practice for enhancing diversity and inclusivity in undergraduate STEM provision.
