University investments

Mike Allwright, a Biological Sciences PhD student, writes on a student campaign for ethical investment at the University of Southampton; asking their University to seize the opportunity to invest for the health of global society and the environment. In the past few years many university campuses have seen campaigns calling for the ethical investment of […]

  Tom Sykes explores the ethical problems with Portsmouth University’s ongoing involvement with the international arms trade. In 1969, Professor Noam Chomsky joined a commission to investigate the financing of his university, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A prescient and forthright critic of the Vietnam War, Chomsky was shocked to discover that the US Defense Department […]

The University of Edinburgh, which is already under pressure from divestment groups pushing for a withdrawal from fossil fuel companies, has pledged to hold an arms review group in the summer. A spokesman for the university said: “An Armaments Review Group will be established to review questions around investments in armaments companies. “Just like the […]

  The University of Glasgow is under growing pressure to divest after NUS Scotland revealed that Glasgow University has £1.3m invested in a number of arms companies including BAE Systems. A new petition, already signed by 200 people, highlights that: Last year students of Glasgow University successfully managed to convince the university to divest from harmful fossil fuels, and we […]

Students across the country have gone into occupation demanding, amongst other things, a fairer education system and an end to university links with the arms trade. Occupy LSE We demand that the school cuts its ties to exploitative and destructive organisations, such as those involved in wars, military occupations and the destruction of the planet. This includes […]

Information uncovered by NUS Scotland shows that Scottish Universities including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Strathclyde and Aberdeen-based Robert Gordon have nearly £3 million invested in companies linked to the arms trade. Including £1.3m invested by Glasgow University in a number of firms including BAE Systems. Kirsty Haigh, of NUS Scotland, said it was “shameful” universities were still […]

The University of Edinburgh is under renewed pressure to completely disinvest from the arms industry after over 50 academics signed an open letter calling for the institution to divest from the arms trade and fossil fuels. The University of Edinburgh’s endowment fund is the third largest in the UK valued at £230 million. The calls build on the enormous […]

Hot off the press, the new ‘Don’t dither – divest’ campaign guide for students is now available. Brilliantly produced and thoroughly researched by NUS Scotland this resource pulls together everything you could possibly want to know about university divestment campaigns, all in one easily accessible place. Can’t get enough of this kind of thing? There’s more here

After a year long campaign by Lancaster University’s Ethical Investment Group (LUEIG) the University has agreed to consider an Ethical Investment Policy put forward by the group. Currently, around 14% of the University’s investments are in fossil fuels and nearly 4% of investments are in the arms trade. Over 1000 students have already signed the “Divest Lancaster […]