Benita Udegbe on being Villiers Park's first Alumni Trustee
Trustees' Week Feature | Benita Udegbe, Alumni Trustee
I’m proud to be the very first Alumni Trustee at Villiers Park, having joined the Board in September 2021. The programme and people here had a big impact on me so I’m happy to be able to give something back. This is a great opportunity for me to see things from the other side of the table and, hopefully, represent current Future Leaders’ voices at Board level. It’s fantastic to work with trustees from a wide range of backgrounds - I’m learning a lot!
I knew before I started the Villiers Park programme that I wanted to be a Lawyer, and that university was the way to achieve that, but I knew little about the steps I’d need to take to get there. What Villiers Park really did for me was put opportunities for personal development within my grasp - things that I simply wouldn’t have known about without being on the programme. The subject-specific residential course on Law really opened my eyes: we talked about human rights and criminal law, and were able to visit a prison. The internship at Freshfields gave me a feel for what it is really like to work for a multinational law firm. Prior to this, Law was just this abstract idea for a good career, but - through Villiers Park - it became something I really wanted to do for the right reasons; it cemented it for me.
Growing up in Eastbourne and going to Hastings College, it never even occurred to me that I was from a “disadvantaged” background, and I certainly never felt that word applied to me or my peers. So I must admit it jarred me to hear it being used in the context of our young people when I became a trustee. Through this appointment, I’ve come to understand that Villiers Park works in areas with lower progression rates to higher and further education - something which is a common indicator of economic disadvantage. I’ve since learned that several areas within Eastbourne - and many more within Hastings - are in the most economically deprived 10% in all of England. So while I might not consider myself disadvantaged, it’s clear there are big gaps in opportunity and outcomes across the UK, and that’s what Villiers Park is working to address.
“Under-represented” is a term that sits better with me, and that’s true in my chosen field of Law: The percentage of female lawyers roughly mirrors the population average, but we make up only 1/3 of partners - the most senior position in a law firm. 23% of UK lawyers attended a fee-paying school compared with just 7.5% of the population, so maybe we should be talking about the problem of “over-representation”! A few years ago, just 2% of UK lawyers were Black compared to 3% of the UK workforce - fully a third fewer. It’s now 3%, so some things are moving in the right direction!
Speaking of representation, the Charity Commission reported in 2017 that 92% of Trustees are white, two-thirds are male and the average age is between 55-64 years old, so I’m very pleased to be moving the needle on that.
I’m hoping to work more directly with current students as my role progresses, helping Villiers Park to make the biggest possible difference. I can’t wait to see what the next generation of Future Leaders achieves.
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