No boycott, minister warns colleges

ACADEMICS in Britain must not boycott the United Arab Emirates, the universities minister urged yesterday.

Sam Gyimah warned universities that cutting ties with the country risks harming our ‘ability to positively influence’ its future leaders.

He said student exchange programmes must continue to ‘facilitate a change of outlook’ and show overseas youngsters what a ‘fully functioning democracy’ looks like.

His comments come after staff at Birmingham University voted for an academic boycott of its campus in the UAE over the affair. The Birmingham action means lecturers based in the Midlands will refuse to teach in Dubai and will not provide the campus with any academic support, such as course materials and marking exams.

In addition, the University College Union (UCU), which represents academics across the country, has urged institutions to ‘seek stronger assurances’ on treatment of staff before committing them to travel.

However, yesterday, Mr Gyimah said that, while the case was extremely worrying, academic boycotts may not be the answer. He said: ‘It’s an incredibly tragic story and I am pleased to see that the Foreign Office is using all the available levers available to intervene on behalf of this graduate. We’ve got to be cautious.

‘But student exchange is one of those things that should always go on. I think that even where you have countries where you might have profound policy disagreements, one of the issues that can actually help facilitate a change of outlook in ideas is student exchange programmes.

‘It worked during the Cold War, I don’t see why it can’t work now.’