Twice every week, six students of African descent meet in an Acadia University classroom. Together, they discuss research, social justice, anti-Black racism and methodologies that are rarely taught in class. For professor Alicia Noreiga-Mundaroy and chaplain Marjorie Lewis, these meetings are a tangible step toward improving Black student representation in higher education.
That’s important because, in Canada, the higher the academic degree, the fewer Black students there are to be found.
A pilot program for Afrocentric mentorship
In the 2023-24 academic year, 3.9 per cent of first-year domestic students in Nova Scotian universities were Black, according to the most recent data from Statistics Canada. That’s 240 out of a total of 6,180 Canadian first-year students in the province (international students are not included in the StatCan numbers).
Just 20 Black Canadian students enrolled in a master’s program in Nova Scotia in 2023-24, while 10 began doctoral studies.
Overall, Black Nova Scotians make up about five per cent of the population of the province.
To encourage students of African descent to pursue graduate studies, Dr. Noreiga-Mundaroy, a professor of education, and Dr. Lewis, who holds a PhD in theology, launched the Black Brilliance Research Circle mentorship program at Acadia during the 2025–26 academic year.
They consciously rooted the program in a culturally safe pedagogical approach inspired by Ubuntu, an Afro-centric philosophy that emphasizes the importance of community in an individual’s development. The first cohort met in “a collective space where research is intended to serve the community, give a voice to often marginalized or ignored perspectives and strengthen social ties through work that helps improve our society,” said Dr. Lewis. Participants explored research methods that are not dominant in universities, such as auto-ethnographic, autobiographical, and case studies. The workshops explored themes like social justice, the fight against anti-Black racism, and decolonization and post-colonialism from a Black and African perspective.
At the end of the program, the focus shifted from theory to research projects grounded in the students’ interests and experiences, spanning themes like friendship and academic perseverance. To reinforce their practical education and prevent them from dropping out for economic reasons, Dr. Noreiga-Mundaroy also helped these students find on-campus employment as research assistants.
Under-appreciated, yet going above and beyond
The first Progress Report of the Scarborough Charter on Anti-Black Racism and Black Inclusion in Canadian Higher Education, published in 2025, noted that there is often a lack of funding and dedicated staff for developing systemic, sustainable equity policies. At universities in Atlantic Canada, a small number of Black faculty and staff are driving the work of change.
“As racialized professors, we often find ourselves — especially in predominantly white settings — doing work that isn’t fully recognized and that goes beyond our official duties,” said Dr. Noreiga-Mundaroy.
Drs. Lewis and Noreiga-Mundaroy ran the mentorship pilot program on a volunteer basis, with administrative support provided by Janique Ellis Panza, Acadia’s coordinator of Black student affairs. The program received a modest SSHRC grant of $2,890. Although students completed the program in parallel with their coursework, they did not receive official credit for it, a situation the mentors find regrettable. Still, the benefits of the program are already evident. One participant was accepted into an undergraduate honours program — often the first step toward a master’s degree, said Dr. Noreiga-Mundaroy. Bolstered by this success, she hopes to run the program with Dr. Lewis again next year. While the 2025-26 cohort were all women, they hope next year to recruit some male students.
Showcasing Black research
In the neighbouring province, the University of New Brunswick (UNB) appointed three women the Human Rights and Equity Office and named Joanne Owuor as advocacy and education officer after adopting the Scarborough Charter in February 2025.
Black students are even fewer and farther between in New Brunswick. According to Statistics Canada, only 60 Black Canadian students registered to begin undergraduate studies in the 2023–24 academic year, representing 1.9 per cent of first-year domestic students. No Black students registered at the graduate level. Overall, Black people represent 1.6 per cent of the population of New Brunswick.
Rooted in an Afrocentric approach, Ms. Owuor’s role is to “address blind spots” in matters of equity. “Black students are doing amazing research across multiple fields,” she said. “But universities don’t give that research the support it needs and deserves.” During Black History Month, Ms. Owuor organized the university’s first showcase to highlight Black students’ scientific contributions. The general public was also invited. The showcase was designed to send an “emphatic and very deliberate” message that science is for everyone, said Ms. Owuor. Spanning fields such as education, immigration, nursing and history, the students’ qualitative research projects all drew attention to a persistent gap in research: the lack of perspectives from Black communities.
Drawing on her social justice expertise, Ms. Owuor also mentored students participating in the event and helped integrate these research projects “rooted in lived experience” into various relevant institutional structures.
These new initiatives emerged in spite of the precarious economic climate across the university sector in Atlantic Canada, and demonstrate a strong commitment to meaningfully enhancing Black students’ scientific potential. They are being closely monitored by the Scarborough Charter Secretariat, whose mission is to track signatories’ progress, or lack thereof, in fighting anti-Black racism and supporting Black people in their institutions.