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The dominant liberal conception of the university is as an institution that is simultaneously a-political and socially enlightened – a bastion of objective, unprejudiced learning and teaching. However, in the light of recent high-profile on-campus protest movements such as Rhodes Must Fall (#RhodesMustFall) and campaigns such as the National Students Union supported ‘Why is My Curriculum White?’ the question of whether universities in the United Kingdom are institutionally racist has become an increasingly salient subject of analysis. Embedded within a critical race theory perspective, this thesis therefore explores and seeks to understand the everyday experiences of female British BME students at a leading UK university. Drawing data from in-depth biographical narrative interviews and focus group discussions with nine female Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) students from Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Black British Caribbean ethnic backgrounds, this research identifies and details three related phenomena: (i) institutional microaggressions; (ii) inter-personal microaggressions; and (iii) racialised aggressions. The findings of this research analysis demonstrate the subtle but powerful manner in which racial microaggressions can manifest within the university setting, and the strategies of resistance via which minoritised students subsequently navigate the institution on a daily basis. While similar analyses have previously been undertaken within the context of the US higher education system, analyses of racial microaggressions within the UK university sector remain, as yet, embryonic. As such, the thesis aims to contribute to this important, nascent UK literature.

This thesis analyses the work-care experiences of out-of-work partnered parents in France and the United Kingdom (UK). It aims to understand how activation policy could be improved by recognising the importance of work-family reconciliation issues for out-of-work couples. Based on interviews with thirty-six families in Lille and Sheffield, it contributes to knowledge through increasing awareness of how work-care issues play out within couples and by questioning assumptions among policy makers that such issues are unimportant to out-of-work parents. It differs from existing research by examining the experiences of mothers as carers and potential workers; and fathers as workers and potential carers. The cross-national aspect - with a particular focus on policy learning - evaluates how differences in labour market structures, working time regimes and work-family reconciliation policy in France and the UK are borne out in parental experiences. The ideal work-care scenarios of the parents interviewed are outlined and their experiences of seeking to obtain these models investigated. Respondents were found to have a strong commitment to employment. Personal, activation-side, neighbourhood, societal and (especially for mothers) care factors all contributed to why they were not in work. Differences are identified in the influencing factors cross-nationally between parents. In the UK, even where mothers might find work more easily than fathers, respondents maintained traditional models of whom to prioritise for employment. Parents’ ideals and experiences are analysed in relation to six fields of macro and micro-level literature. Among other contributions, the findings notably allow the development of activation regime theory by fronting the role of care and the extension of ‘gendered moral rationalities’ theory to couples cross-nationally. Discord was found to exist between policy objectives and the ideals of some out-of-work parents in both countries. New policy directions are identified.