NUS urges ‘decolonisation’ of universities to stop racism

BRITISH universities are a “product of colonialism” and more needs to be done to challenge their “racist structures”, the National Union of Students has said.

Some parts of UK higher education “have propagated systems that assure white privilege” and the system must be “decolonised”, according to a manifesto setting out NUS priorities. It comes amid calls for universities to design courses that are not too dominated by white male perspectives.

Earlier this year, the University of Cambridge announced it was launching an inquiry into how it benefited from the slave trade. It will also investigate how far academics “reinforced and validated race-based thinking between the 18th and early 20th century”.

Other leading universities have refused to bow to pressure. The University of Oxford refused to give in to the demands of the Rhodes Must Fall campaign, that called for the statue of Cecil Rhodes to be taken down from Oriel College over his links to imperialism, while the University of Bristol announced that it would not rename the Wills Memorial Building despite campaigners claiming the merchants it was named after had links to the slave trade.

In a section of the NUS manifesto titled “decolonising our education”, it says: “Our educational structures and institutions are a product of colonialism: some have directly profited from this, while others have propagated systems that assure white privilege.

“This is reflected in the racist barriers and structures students face, with the attainment gap the most striking symptom of race inequity.”

The NUS said that universities have recognised that they have a “responsibility to dismantle these systems”.

A spokesman for Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, said: “Our work suggests several universities are reviewing their curriculums as well as conducting liberation or decolonisation activities in co-ordination with students’ unions and individuals. Many are at the early phase and have not been rolled out across entire institutions.”