{"id":2300,"date":"2022-06-16T09:01:48","date_gmt":"2022-06-16T09:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/?p=2300"},"modified":"2022-07-14T14:27:18","modified_gmt":"2022-07-14T14:27:18","slug":"uk-government-seeks-new-laws-to-save-freedom-of-speech-at-universities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/uk-government-seeks-new-laws-to-save-freedom-of-speech-at-universities\/","title":{"rendered":"UK GOVERNMENT SEEKS NEW LAWS TO SAVE FREEDOM OF SPEECH AT UNIVERSITIES"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new proposed Bill before parliament to protect free speech will make\u00a0UK<\/a>\u00a0universities reveal details of overseas funding from countries like China.<\/p>\n

Under amendments to the Higher Education [Freedom of Speech] Bill, universities could face fines if they fail to show financial arrangements they secure with so-called foreign actors or overseas organizations deemed a threat to democracy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is right that we are taking new action to protect our universities from undue foreign influences that work against British values,\u201d universities minister, Michelle Donelan told Parliament on Monday evening.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cThe UK is a bastion of free speech. More than two-thirds of the world\u2019s population lives in places where academic freedom is severely limited. \u00a0For decades students have traveled thousands of miles across the globe to study here because of our values of free speech and academic freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

But she said foreign nations were seeking to influence the academic space, and combined with the \u201cno platform agenda\u201d by some students, were undermining freedom and creativity.<\/p>\n

As a result, this \u201cchilling effect\u201d has seen the UK \u201csignificantly\u201d slip down the global rankings of academic freedom, Donelan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is right that we are taking new action to protect our universities from undue foreign influences that work against British values\u2014this is a Bill that the rest of the world will take note of.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that she looked forward to working with the new director \u201cto tackle these important issues and ensure we remain one of the most academically free countries in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The amendment is one of a raft of proposed legislation that demands universities actively promote and protect freedom of speech.<\/p>\n

China has been singled out in recent years, accused of buying influence, shaping the debate, and silencing criticism of and promoting policies for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on UK campuses.<\/p>\n

Exempt from the amendment are countries such as Japan and Australia which are listed in the Academic Technology Approval Scheme. Funding from countries in the European Union and NATO.<\/p>\n

Under the proposed changes to the Bill\u2014which is in the process of becoming law\u2014student societies will also have to share details of overseas funding from specified countries.<\/p>\n

And they too would also face financial penalties and other sanctions over perceived risks to freedom of speech or academic freedom because of their funding routes.<\/p>\n

The government is currently recruiting a new director to oversee the new policy at the Office for Students, which regulates universities.<\/p>\n

The director will have new powers to investigate if freedoms are under threat from so-called cancel culture or insidious foreign influence, and will be able to levy sanctions, accordingly, said Donelan.<\/p>\n

Some universities have already introduced their processes or guidance to cover concerns that foreign influences could hamper freedom of speech.<\/p>\n

Following criticism over links between senior managers and Chinese telecom giant Huawei, Cambridge university said last year it would assess all international agreements to ensure principles of academic freedom.<\/p>\n

And last month, the university\u2019s Jesus College\u00a0rebranded it’s controversial The China Centre<\/a>, which had received Chinese funding and had trained senior members of the\u00a0CCP to become better authoritarian leaders.<\/p>\n

Last week Tory MP Alicia Kearns warned that the Chinese regime held too much sway over UK universities, adding that \u201cthose against us are weaponizing education.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said that Confucius Institutes\u2014public language and cultural education programmes funded by an organization linked to the Chinese regime\u2014were \u201cundermining the integrity of the Mandarin education in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Donelan refused to say if the UK was considering banning the institutes, saying UK universities must offer alternative learning opportunities, which the new bill will empower them to do so.<\/p>\n

The Higher Education Bill is to reach the final parliamentary stage in September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new proposed Bill before parliament to protect free speech will make\u00a0UK\u00a0universities reveal details of overseas funding from countries like China. Under amendments to the Higher Education [Freedom of Speech] […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[104,103,105],"class_list":["post-2300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-empowerment","tag-freedom-of-speech","tag-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2300"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2343,"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2300\/revisions\/2343"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.psmgt.org.uk\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}