Last
updated: November 2005
New
study reveals uni arms trade investments
A
study by an arms trade campaign group has shown that at least 67 of
the UK’s universities and colleges – 45 per cent of the
institutions for which information could be obtained – are significant
investors in the arms trade.
The study,
released on October 21 by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), was
carried out using new Freedom of Information legislation.
The group’s researchers sought information from all 183 UK universities
and university colleges, and compiled details of their shareholdings
in six of the UK’s largest arms companies. These companies are
BAE Systems, GKN, Rolls Royce, Smiths Group, Cobham and VT Group.
The study’s findings show an ‘Ivy League’ of ten university
arms investors collectively holding nearly 33 million shares in the
six arms companies.
Three-quarters of all UK universities with medical schools invest in
the arms trade – a trade which an editorial in the leading medical
journal The Lancet last month argued “threaten[s] human, and especially
civilian, health and well-being.”
The study claims that Oxbridge colleges hold the most shares in arms
companies. Trinity College, Cambridge alone holds 804,009 shares in
the six companies. Only Swansea and Liverpool hold more.
Findings also show that 32 universities/colleges hold shares in BAE
Systems currently worth around £57.5m.
The company is currently the object of Serious Fraud Office investigations
into allegations that it paid £1m to Chilean dictator Augusto
Pinochet, and operated a £60m ‘slush fund’ providing
‘hospitality’ for Saudi officials connected to a massive
UK–Saudi arms deal.
BAE has denied the slush fund claims. In September two former BAE staff
were arrested in connection with the investigation.
Despite student-led campaigns for ethical investment at several universities,
the scale of investment in arms companies has not been previously known.
Last month Lancaster University prosecuted six students who protested
at a ‘corporate venturing’ conference intended to promote
commercial links between the university’s research, the arms company
BAE Systems and other controversial corporations.
CAAT’s study shows that Lancaster holds shares in four major arms
companies, including BAE.
CAAT campaigner Jo Wittams, who researched the figures, said, “Our
research shows that several of Britain’s oldest and most prestigious
universities also form an ‘ivy league’ of arms trade investors.”
“Although historically committed to internationalism and human
progress, their wealth provides major funding for a trade that fuels
international tensions, and for companies that regularly arm human rights
abusers and conflict zones.”
“While universities are ostensibly open and public institutions,
staff and students are rarely kept informed about the investments made
on their behalf, often using their money.”
“We hope that these figures will help university members work
with their institutions to divest from the arms trade,” she added.
Full
results of the study, with analysis and details of all 183 universities
are available at www.caat.org.uk
