The Ask Your University Q&A took place on October 30th, providing students a platform to voice their concerns to University leaders.
Questions spanned teaching, assessment, feedback, finance and ethics, strongly focusing on the University’s stance on arms companies divestment, support for Palestinian students, and actions to decolonise the curriculum.
John Flint, Deputy Vice-President for Research, addressed the divestment issue, and said: “All of our projects, dual-use potential for defence and civil, are subject to rigorous oversight.”
He added that due diligence checks on potential projects are made to ensure compliance with the University’s code of ethics.
A Freedom of Information request revealed that since 2012, the University has received £12.5 million from BAE Systems, a company involved in producing F-35s used by the Israeli military in Gaza.
Flint said: “The university established their own defence and security framework”.
This is overseen by a committee led by Professor Ashutosh Tiwari, and he added: “We’re also committed to developing new web pages to explain our framework and projects.”
Beyond divestment, students were also concerned about the University’s support for Palestinian students amid the Gaza crisis.
Debra Ogden, Deputy Director of Student Support Services, said: “The Student Safeguarding and Welfare team has reached out directly to all Palestinian students, highlighting available support.”
She added that ‘emergency financial support’ is available for students affected by the Gaza crisis.
On decolonisation, David Forrest, Deputy Vice-President for Education, said: “We’re looking to develop an inclusive framework – decolonising is going to be a really important part.”
He also confirmed a resource bank on best practices for curriculum decolonisation is available for staff.
John added that research is “based on understanding historical, contemporary and potentially future global injustice,” and noted they are considering ways to better support the people and organisations they work with.
Written by Marsya Ali
