Josephine Ocloo said problems must be acknowledged

Its project director, Josephine Ocloo, said their study had shown what the Macpherson Report termed "institutional racism" was rife in colleges.

"Generally, there is a lack of acceptance that there is a problem, still less an understanding of how to deal with it systematically.

"As a result, complaints of discrimination, racial stereotyping, and racist incidents may be ignored, with black staff left feeling frightened, frustrated and under-valued," Ms Ocloo said.

'Ghettoised'

The Commission's research revealed that ethnic minority staff were often not represented at all in colleges or concentrated at the lower grades on part-time and temporary contracts.

Black and Asian staff were largely excluded from the decision making process and were ghettoised into certain subject areas such as "ethnic issues" the report said.

But the Commission's chairman, Mike Peters, said there was evidence for hope of improvement.

Mr Peters pointed to the fact that several key organisations such as the Association of Colleges and the university and college lecturers' union, Natfhe, had sponsored their work.

"This demonstrates that the sector is prepared to take these issues seriously and to find their own internal solutions to the problems," he said.

The Commission's final report next year is expected to present key findings and put forward proposals to encourage the recruitment, retention and promotion of ethnic minority staff.