Set quotas to get more women academics But calls for further targets are likely to prove controversial among leading universities which have already criticised benchmarks aimed at recruitment of "under-represented" students. Official figures show that women make up 47 per cent - 76,500 - of lower level academic staff across all UK higher education institutions. But they account for only 20 per cent - 3,450 - of professors. At the same time, black and ethnic minority staff make up 13 per cent of positions but just over seven per cent of full professorial roles. Researchers also gained data through the Freedom of Information Act from 23 universities and found more than four times as many men applied for professorial posts as women. In these universities, white applicants were three times more likely to get a professorial post as their black and ethnic minority colleagues. The study called for universities to identify posts with low numbers of "under-represented" groups and set targets with specific timeframes to address the shortfall. It also recommended "equal pay audits" to ensure all groups receive the same wages. Sally Hunt, UCU general secretary, said: "We are allowing thousands of staff, who have built up years of knowledge and experience, never to realise their full potential. It's like athletes training to Olympic standard but never entering a Games. We want universities to take decisive action to stop this terrible waste of talent. They need to examine the reasons why women and black and minority ethnic staff stop climbing the career ladder, and develop new, effective strategies to support them to reach the top.