Does money from foreign donors come with strings attached? Dangerously so, according to research last week that claimed foreign governments have corrupted British universities and threatened their academic impartiality.
The report, A Degree of Influence, from the UK’s Centre for Social Cohesion in London, lists the millions of dollars that leading UK universities have accepted from donors in the Middle East, Asia and Russia. Robin Simcox, the author of the report, said foreign donors that give enough money get a say in how things are run.
“Edinburgh and Cambridge received £8 million [US$12 million] each from Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia last year to set up Islamic studies centers,” he said. “He gets to appoint as many as three or five members of the management committee.”
His research is based on analysis of the information on public record and talking to universities. It focuses on Arabic and Islamic studies, but compares them with other area studies.
“Donations from the Middle East are by far the largest, but the Confucius institutes have far more influence for the money they pay,” Simcox said.
China has given about £50,000 to several British universities to set up the Confucius Institutes.
“Universities don’t get much money from the Chinese government, but they have to follow teaching standards and a set curriculum, which includes Tibet and photos of people living in mansions. It’s blatant propaganda,” Simcox said.
The report paints an alarming picture of foreign influence in academic life. But universities refute the criticisms.
Peter Agar, Cambridge University’s development director, said nominees have to be approved by the university.
“Donor representatives will always be in a minority, but may well themselves be academics who can bring an informed external perspective, adding to the expertise of the internal academic members,” he said.
The arrangements protect the university’s academic integrity while enabling a particular academic area to benefit from the input of donor representatives chosen for their interest and expertise in a particular center’s work, he said.
Professor Tim Wright of Sheffield University’s Confucius Institute, said it was “complete nonsense” to suggest the Chinese government or the Chinese Language Council International, which funds it, has any influence over the university curriculum.
“The institute is solely aimed at outreach into the community and we’ve not had any pressure at all on how we teach that either,” he said. “Obviously, it’s totally unacceptable to have any influence on the university. If they had something to say about how we teach evening classes we might look at that, but they haven’t.”
Universities are increasingly dependent on non-UK government money, but this influence “isn’t a big issue in general in most universities,” Wright said.
Diana Warwick, chief executive of the umbrella body Universities UK, insists that all academic programs are subjected to rigorous and independent quality assurance procedures, which ensure openness and high standards.
“There are established cultural and business links between the UK and the Middle East, and also with China. These are important parts of the world for the UK to engage with and understand,” she said.
Even Professor Denis Hayes, the founder of Academics for Academic Freedom, calls the report an “astonishingly weak and naive attempt to discredit major foreign funders” operating in British universities, when, he said, the greater threat is closer to home.
“The British government, ruling through the quangocracy [agencies that operate autonomously], operates much more effectively to influence academic life,” he said. “All the examples given in this document have stronger parallels in the UK. Censorship of discussion is almost ubiquitous in university departments offering teacher education, which have been reorganized around political ends. In education there is no criticism, and self-censorship is the norm.”
People with missing teeth might be able to grow new ones, said Japanese dentists, who are testing a pioneering drug they hope will offer an alternative to dentures and implants. Unlike reptiles and fish, which usually replace their fangs on a regular basis, it is widely accepted that humans and most other mammals only grow two sets of teeth. However, hidden underneath our gums are the dormant buds of a third generation, said Katsu Takahashi, head of oral surgery at the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital in Osaka, Japan. His team launched clinical trials at Kyoto University Hospital in October, administering an experimental
‘GOOD POLITICS’: He is a ‘pragmatic radical’ and has moderated his rhetoric since the height of his radicalism in 2014, a lecturer in contemporary Islam said Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the leader of the Islamist alliance that spearheaded an offensive that rebels say brought down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ended five decades of Baath Party rule in Syria. Al-Jolani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda. He is a former extremist who adopted a more moderate posture in order to achieve his goals. Yesterday, as the rebels entered Damascus, he ordered all military forces in the capital not to approach public institutions. Last week, he said the objective of his offensive, which saw city after city fall from government control, was to
IVY LEAGUE GRADUATE: Suspect Luigi Nicholas Mangione, whose grandfather was a self-made real-estate developer and philanthropist, had a life of privilege The man charged with murder in the killing of the CEO of UnitedHealthcare made it clear he was not going to make things easy on authorities, shouting unintelligibly and writhing in the grip of sheriff’s deputies as he was led into court and then objecting to being brought to New York to face trial. The displays of resistance on Tuesday were not expected to significantly delay legal proceedings for Luigi Nicholas Mangione, who was charged in last week’s Manhattan killing of Brian Thompson, the leader of the US’ largest medical insurance company. Little new information has come out about motivation,
‘MONSTROUS CRIME’: The killings were overseen by a powerful gang leader who was convinced his son’s illness was caused by voodoo practitioners, a civil organization said Nearly 200 people in Haiti were killed in brutal weekend violence reportedly orchestrated against voodoo practitioners, with the government on Monday condemning a massacre of “unbearable cruelty.” The killings in the capital, Port-au-Prince, were overseen by a powerful gang leader convinced that his son’s illness was caused by followers of the religion, the civil organization the Committee for Peace and Development (CPD) said. It was the latest act of extreme violence by powerful gangs that control most of the capital in the impoverished Caribbean country mired for decades in political instability, natural disasters and other woes. “He decided to cruelly punish all