Oxford acts to ‘decolonise’ computer science degrees

OXFORD has become the latest university to “decolonise” computing degree courses because of alleged slavery links to machine learning.

The university’s computer science department has overhauled modules to show “how global histories of domination and subjugation have impacted the structures of science they see and the assumptions they encounter”.

It says it is committed to “understanding what it means to decolonise the curriculum and examining preconceptions that have been taken for granted for decades, if not centuries”.

The faculty, one of the oldest computer sciences hubs in the UK, says there is “growing awareness” that “new technologies can have a detrimental effect on individuals, communities and entire societies”.

However, the department, headed by Prof Leslie Ann Goldberg, has been accused of becoming “colonised” by American radical critical race theories.

Toby Young, head of the Free Speech Union, said: “With the capture of the Oxford computer science department, the colonisation of Britain’s universities by America’s grievance industrial complex is complete.

It emerged last week that the body advising universities on degree standards is now urging campus chiefs to “go woke” by decolonising most subject areas.

The Quality Assurance Agency’s new advice says that computing courses should address “how divisions and hierarchies of colonial value are replicated and reinforced” within the subject and maths curriculums “should present a multicultural and decolonised view”.

‘The colonisation of Britain’s universities by America’s grievance industrial complex is complete’

The Oxford computer sciences department has announced that “being non-racist is insufficient” because the university “has benefitted from and perpetuated attitudes and practices rooted in deeply wrong biases and prejudices”.

The faculty’s new modules include one on computers in society and another in ethics and responsible innovation.

A University of Oxford spokesman said: “All faculties regularly review and update their course curricula to reflect the latest developments in the subject, and recent initiatives have broadened the topics that we teach and research”.