The invisible conspicuous outsiders: Black students’ experiences in healthcare programmes – a case study

This study investigates how Black students experience and respond to both invisibility and hypervisibility within UK healthcare education. Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of habitus and critical race theory, it addresses a key gap in existing literature, which often homogenises the experiences of ethnic minority students and overlooks the specific impact of anti-Black racism. Based on qualitative data from 21 students across seven healthcare programmes at a London university, the study reveals how institutional norms rooted in whiteness and middle-class values marginalise Black students, while simultaneously subjecting them to racialised scrutiny. By focusing exclusively on Black students and examining multiple healthcare disciplines, this study offers a novel, comparative lens on the systemic inequalities embedded in healthcare education. It also foregrounds the under-recognised cultural insights and professional strengths Black students develop in response to these challenges. The paper calls for more targeted institutional reforms to foster equity, recognition, and meaningful inclusion.