Category: UK universities

British Universities Accepted £30 Million From Blacklisted Chinese 5G Giant Huawei

Blacklisted technology company Huawei has plunged at least £30 million into British universities via research grants and donations. The Epoch Times can reveal the telecom giant—deemed a national security threat by the United States government—is the biggest China-based donor to higher educational institutions in the UK. Over the past four years, Huawei and its advanced…


UK University Students to Take Legal Action Over ‘Lockdown’ Education That Saw Classes Moved Online

Thousands of students are taking legal action against their universities over months of disruption to their education because of lockdowns and staff strike actions. Nearly 20,000 students have joined group claims through the Student Group Claim to take action against universities that charged full fees despite failing to provide them with in-person tuition. The legal…


UK Universities Cut Off From £80 Billion EU Science Fund: Expert

British universities and businesses will lose out unless the government can fix a row with the European Union over the £80 billion Horizon Europe academic funding programme, according to Stepan Stepanenko, a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society. He said the government had “shot themselves in the foot” by rejecting the Northern Ireland Protocol, antagonising…


UK Universities Face ‘Enormous Disruption’ as Staff Balloted for Strike Action

British university academics and staff members are being balloted for strike over pay, pensions, and working conditions, which union leaders say would cause “enormous disruption.” Members of the University and College Union (UCU) will vote in the next few weeks on whether to go on strike, causing concerns that students’ learning would be impacted again…


Universities Must Assess Spelling, Punctuation, Grammar: UK Regulator

The UK’s higher education regulator told universities they must not disregard poor spelling, punctuation, and grammar as it risks undermining the quality of students’ education and devaluing their qualifications. The Office for Students (OfS) published a report (pdf) on Thursday after conducting a review of student assessment policies and practices in a small number of higher education…


UK Government Should Tackle Chinese Influence, Over Dependency on Chinese Students in Universities: Lawmakers

The UK needs to improve its oversight mechanisms for foreign interference in institutions including higher education, a group of Conservative members of Parliament (MPs) said on Monday. The Tory backbenchers suggested the government should audit Chinese influences in British universities, advise academic institutions on China collaborations, and help create diversified income for colleges to reduce dependence on…


Academic Freedom ‘In Crisis’ and Cancel Culture Endemic in UK Universities: Report

Authoritarianism, political discrimination, and self-censorship are rife in British universities and have thrown academic freedom into a crisis of cancel culture, a landmark study revealed on Monday. The discrimination, mainly experienced by conservative academics, manifests as “hard authoritarianism,” and involves “no-platforming, dismissal campaigns, social media mob attacks, open letters … formal complaints, and disciplinary action,”…


British University Researchers May Be ‘Inadvertently Arming China’: Think Tank

Top British universities may be unwittingly assisting China’s military forces in their development of weapons of mass destruction by allowing them access to cutting-edge research, a social policy think tank has said. In research published on Monday (pdf), Civitas, the Institute for the Study of Civil Society, said that the “pervasive presence of Chinese military-linked…


‘Precious’ Free Speech in UK Universities Under Threat From Cancel Culture: Former Secretary of State

The UK’s former Secretary of State told British lawmakers on Tuesday that free speech is under severe threat in the country’s universities from the cancel culture movement. “Today there’s a corrosive trend in our universities that aims to prevent anybody hearing ideas that groups disagree with or would be offended by,” said Conservative MP David…