Dr Shaid Mahmood, our Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion), has been appointed to the Government’s Higher Education Access and Participation Task and Finish Group.
The announcement has been made by the Minister of State for Skills, following the publication of the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper.
The appointment, which Dr Mahmood will take up alongside his University role, recognises his long-term commitment to raising aspirations, and supporting people from disadvantaged backgrounds achieve their goals.
The Group will develop proposals to help more students from disadvantaged backgrounds access higher education.
Meeting between November 2025 and January 2027, it will address regional gaps in access to higher education, and barriers to higher education faced by people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Dr Mahmood became our first PVC-EDI when he joined us in February 2022. Prior to that, he was Chief Officer for Communities and Transformation and Change at Leeds City Council.
He is Chair of the Association of Colleges, and in 2022 was made an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) by King Charles III. In 2019, he was named ‘UK’s Most Inspiring Person’ in the National Centre for Diversity’s annual awards.
Dr Mahmood is responsible for our Inclusive Durham approach to equality, diversity, inclusion, respect, and behaviours. He has also recently held the post of Acting Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Colleges and Student Experience).
We are committed to widening access to higher education, and have made significant strides in diversifying our student intake in recent years.
We recognise there is still more to do, and have recently embarked upon our most ambitious Access and Participation Plan to date.
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