Academic boycott: Russell Group Director General to meet Israeli Ambassador
26 June 2007
A mounting campaign against a planned academic boycott of Israel will take a further step forward this week when the Director General of The Russell Group of leading UK research-intensive universities meets the Israeli Ambassador in London to express the Group's opposition to any boycott.
At the end of May, the University and College Union (UCU) agreed for its branches to debate an academic boycott of Israeli universities – a decision which was immediately condemned by the Russell Group.
The Russell Group's Director General, Dr Wendy Piatt, will meet Ambassador Zvi Heifetz on Wednesday, 27 June.
She said: "I plan to take the opportunity to assure the Ambassador of the Russell Group's determination to stand firm against any so-called academic boycott.
"There appears to be an accelerating backlash against the UCU's move, with a growing determination amongst UK academics to protect and strengthen freedom of inquiry and freedom of speech."
Dr Piatt was amongst around 250 leading academics whose names appeared in a full-page broadsheet advertisement on 13 June condemning the planned boycott as "bad for Britain, bad for academic freedom, bad for Palestinians and bad for peace". The advertisement was placed by the Stop The Boycott campaign.
"The Russell Group universities will uphold academic freedom by standing firm against any boycott that threatens it."
Notes:
1. The purpose of The Russell Group is to provide thought leadership and strategic direction for the 20 major research intensive universities of the UK; we aim to ensure that policy development in a wide range of issues relating to higher education is underpinned by a robust evidence base and a commitment to civic responsibility, improving life chances, raising aspirations and contributing to economic prosperity and innovation.
2. Formed in 1994 at a meeting convened in the Hotel Russell, London, the Group is composed of the Vice-Chancellors/Principals of the Universities listed opposite. In 2004/5, Russell Group Universities accounted for 65% (over £1.8billion) of UK Universities' research grant and contract income, 56% of all doctorates awarded in the United Kingdom, and over 30% of all students studying in the United Kingdom from outside the EU. In the 2001 national Research Assessment Exercise, 78% of the staff in Grade 5* departments and 57% of the staff in Grade 5 departments were located in Russell Group Universities, and in 2004/5 Russell Group Universities were allocated approximately 64% of the total quality-related research funding (QR) allocated by the Funding Councils.