The University of Sheffield announced on the 6th of June that it had secured funding for a £43-million Research Factory. Their website boasts that “leading manufacturers including Boeing, Airbus, Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems and Spirit AeroSystems are committed to supporting the project”. The project has also received £10 million from the taxpayer through the Higher Education Funding Council for England. One Sheffield Student commented on the University’s facebook page that “it is a sad indictment of our education system when our university feels its can boast about expanding its level of involvement in the arms industry”. Nearly 2,000 students voted in October 2012 for a Student Union policy which called on the University to “end all dealings with arms companies” and a student group called “Fund Education Not War” are campaigning for these students’ wishes to be enforced.
