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Middlesex is a diverse university, coming 14th in the Sunday Times’s 2019 university rankings for social inclusion, and 4th nationally for proportion of BAME students of all ethnicities. Many students do part-time work and around 30% commute to university for an hour or more each way.

In 2018 Middlesex became the first UK university to receive a Charter Mark from diversity specialists, the United Kingdom Investor in Equality and Diversity (UKIED). In its assessment, UKIED said there was “overwhelming and compelling evidence that Middlesex is genuinely committed to embedding equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) within all elements of the learner experience”. Diversity education at Middlesex includes an undergraduate EDI module, which puts students in the shoes of those of a different identity or background, or with a disability, to help understand their perspective and overcome unconscious biases.

The Ministry of Justice, which has a social mobility framework to attract and retain diverse talent, visited the university in February 2018, and now uses Middlesex as a case study in how to promote social mobility, and is developing an internship programme designed specifically for Middlesex students.

The university has a partnership with London’s biggest further education provider Capital City College Group, and is campaigning alongside CCCG for the education system to offer greater flexibility for learners to move between different types of learning. Middlesex delivers a range of professional and work-based learning programmes, including apprenticeships, with employers such as Royal Mail, easyJet and BT. It is now a pioneer of degree apprenticeships, offering an alternative route to public services and industry roles for candidates from a wide variety of backgrounds.

The first Gradstock careers festival brought employers such as Siemens Financial Services, Capita IT Resourcing and HarperCollins to Middlesex. Unitemps has connected students to jobs on campus amounting to more than 100,000 hours of paid work in 18 months, while the MDXcel scheme helps secure work experience with local companies for students with in-demand skills.