Universities accepting millions of pounds from arms companies - study

A report published today reveals that 26 top UK universities have received contracts for at least £725 million over six years in sponsorship by arms companies and public military bodies.

The report, Study War No More, has been published jointly by the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the Campaign Against Arms Trade. It looked at each university between 2001 and 2006 and discovered over 1,900 projects funded in this way.

Over two-thirds of the identified military projects involved three leading UK arms companies - BAE, Rolls Royce and QinetiQ. The universities found to be conducting the most military projects were Cambridge, Loughborough, Oxford, Southampton and University College London.

Examples of military projects include a scheme researching unmanned aerial vehicles over ten universities, funded jointly by BAE and public sources, which is run by a university professor and a project manager from BAE.

In addition to research projects, arms companies were found to have sponsored numerous courses, bursaries, industrial placements and careers fairs.

Co-author of the report Martha Beale said: "It was a huge struggle to unearth this information, due to a lack of transparency at many universities and the secretive nature of the arms trade.

"We were staggered to discover the depth of military involvement in higher education. It raises crucial questions about research funding and academic independence.

"It is vital that students, university staff and the general public tackle the alarming influence of military money."