Senior academics and politicians have condemned UK universities for failing to tackle endemic racism against students and staff after a Guardian investigation found widespread evidence of discrimination in the sector.

University staff from minority backgrounds said the findings showed there was “absolute resistance” to dealing with the problem. Responses to freedom of information (FoI) requests the Guardian sent to 131 universities showed that students and staff made at least 996 formal complaints of racism over the past five years.

Of these, 367 were upheld, resulting in at least 78 student suspensions or expulsions and 51 staff suspensions, dismissals and resignations.

Q&A How data on university racism was gathered and what it means Show Hide Data provided by 131 universities in response to freedom of information requests reveal insufficient dedicated anti-racism training for staff and students, a lack of policy on institutional racism and inconsistent record-keeping of racism complaints. Only 75 universities reported they had centralised records of racism complaints, with 25 declaring they had not, and a further 12 recording either student complaints or staff complaints, not both. More than 20 universities refused to provide some or all of the data requested, citing exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act that the information would either be too costly or time-consuming to collate. This is despite the fact that every university contacted by the Guardian has also been compelled to collate and provide figures on racism complaints to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), as part of its national inquiry into racism in higher education. Eight universities did not provide data for all the five years requested. Seven of those have only begun recording student complaints of racism within the past three years, with one – Queen’s University Belfast – starting to do so only in December 2018. Some universities, including Manchester and Middlesex, lump complaints of racism together with other forms of discrimination, such as harassment and bullying. Middlesex recorded 74 complaints of student-on-student harassment and bullying but could not specify whether any of these involved racism. Manchester said while it does not have specific records of racism it does monitor the nature of complaints submitted to its online reporting system. Thirty-six universities did not provide exact figures, claiming this risked identifying the people concerned. The Guardian has rounded down responses of <5, <6,<7 and <10 to one, unless other information provided suggested otherwise. In many cases this means the actual number of complaints is likely to have been underestimated in our reporting. Twenty Cambridge colleges provided inexact figures in the range of zero and five complaints. These were each counted as one complaint, which means the total number for the university might be lower than reported. The above factors should be borne in mind when interpreting the figures collected by the Guardian. Our findings should not be interpreted as a league table of university racism. Race-equality experts and campaigners have cautioned that universities reporting a high number of complaints are not necessarily those with the worst problems – indeed this may reflect that they have more effective procedures. The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s inquiry into racism in UK universities, expected to be published in September, will examine the gap between the number of formal complaints of racism and the reality of students’ and staff’s experiences. Christina Barnes, the senior principal of inquiries and intelligence at the EHRC, said she hoped its findings would encourage improved reporting by universities. “This might include universities actively surveying staff and students about their experiences of racism,” she said, adding the commission hoped to encourage universities “to realise that a rise in the numbers of formal complaints was not a bad thing".

But even these official figures are believed to underestimate the scale of racism in higher education, with two separate investigations by the Guardian and the Equality and Human Rights Commission identifying hundreds more cases that were not formally investigated by universities.

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Scores of black and minority ethnic students and lecturers have told the Guardian they were dissuaded from making official complaints and either dropped their allegations or settled for an informal resolution. They said white university staff were often reluctant to address racism, with racial slurs treated as banter or an inevitable byproduct of freedom of speech, and institutional racism poorly recognised.

Their complaints come as students staging an occupation at Goldsmiths, University of London, enter the 17th week of their protest to demand it takes action against institutional racism.

Suki Ali, associate professor in sociology at the London School of Economics, said: “There has been absolute resistance to facing the scale of racism in British universities. If you’re in a climate where you think that people don’t understand the problem, don’t take it seriously, don’t have procedures and policies that seem to be effective, why and how would you make a complaint?”

Priyamvada Gopal, a reader at the faculty of English at Cambridge University, said complaints of racism were often met with “race illiteracy”. She said: “Complainants get exhausted and give up simply because there is no comprehension of what racism is. There is either outright denial, ‘gaslighting’ or minimising. Often when issues are raised, in my experience, they are either ignored or dismissed. There are few mechanisms and still fewer trained staff able to deal with race matters.”

Between 2014-15 and the current academic year, the Guardian found there were were 461 complaints made against students, with the majority lodged by other students, and 535 complaints against staff. About half of the complaints made against staff were from students, including 144 against academics.

The universities that recorded the largest number of formal complaints were Cambridge (72); Cardiff (39), Oxford (39), Bedfordshire (36), Nottingham Trent (23), Birkbeck College, University of London (21), Salford (21), and Coventry, Liverpool John Moores and the London School of Economics, each with 20. But these figures may reflect that they had better complaints procedures.

The Guardian found more than a quarter of the universities surveyed lacked centralised records of racism complaints. Some did not specifically record racist incidents, lumping them together with other forms of discrimination, harassment and bullying.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Students stage an anti-racism protest at Goldsmiths last month. Photograph: Anna Gordon/The Guardian

Some universities had only begun recording racist incidents in the last few years; others only recorded racist incidents against either staff or students, not both.

The vast majority of universities also said they did not record informal complaints, while more than half did not record antisemitism and Islamophobia as racism.

The Labour MP David Lammy, who has campaigned for universities to better address racial inequality, said: “It is absolutely clear from these findings that many universities are not treating racism with the seriousness it deserves. If universities do not act fast to change the culture, from the lecture hall to the student union, talented students from BME backgrounds will continue to be locked out.”

Christina Barnes, the senior principal inquiries and intelligence at the EHRC, said its inquiry had found a similar number of formal complaints over the past four years as the Guardian. But 1,600 students, lectures and other staff had responded to its call for evidence of racist incidents in universities over the same time period – the largest response to an inquiry it has ever received.

Barnes said its investigation, due to be published in September, was examining the significant disparity between the official number of racism complaints and what staff and students actually experience. She added: “Our evidence indicates that there is a significant number of people who suffer racial harassment and do not make formal complaints. They may raise informal complaints, or may not make any form of complaint at all. Our report will look at the barriers to making complaints.”

More than 240 students and lecturers have shared accounts of racism with the Guardian, with many reporting that complaints were poorly handled.

The Guardian’s FoI findings revealed that only one university provided dedicated anti-racism training to all staff, while more than half provided no training on institutional racism. Only five universities said staff who investigated complaints had received specific anti-racism training. No universities provided mandatory training for students.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Heidi Mirza:’ People tell me of something horrendous that has happened to them and they just want to leave.’ Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian

Ilyas Nagdee, black students’ officer for the National Union of Students, said racism on campus continued to be brushed under the carpet. “As students of colour continue to face harassment in their places of study [and] abuse in their halls of accommodation, universities remain ill-equipped and unwilling to tackle the issue at large,” he said.

Heidi Mirza, visiting professor of race, faith and culture at Goldsmiths, University of London, said universities’ poor handling of complaints was driving BME staff and students to quit. She said: “This week I have written three references for senior black female staff who want to leave and go to America or anywhere else but England. The attrition rate is symptomatic of the fact that the complaints system doesn’t work.”

“People come and tell me of something horrendous that has happened to them and they just want to leave. They will not go to the university with it. They know the university will crush them.”

A spokesman for Cambridge University said it “strives to create a culture free from racism and takes any complaint extremely seriously”.

He said its complaint figures reflected reforms designed to make reporting harassment and discrimination easier . “We are pleased to see this begin to take place,” he added.

Goldsmith’s has previously said about the student occupation: “We have committed to taking action to address the protesters’ key demands and have already made progress on steps such as reviewing how reports of racism are handled, recruiting additional student wellbeing staff and planning mandatory race equality training for staff.”

The universities minister Chris Skidmore said: “Universities have a responsibility to ensure that they provide a safe and inclusive environment for all staff and students and I expect institutions to act swiftly to investigate and address incidents of racism reported to them.”

A spokeswoman for Universities UK, which represents 136 higher education providers, said: “There is no place for racism on a university campus. In the coming year we will develop guidance targeted at addressing racial harassment.”

Additional reporting by Sally Weale