Universities must put academic freedom above commercial interests, says free speech tsar

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11-03-2025

Universities must put academic freedom above their commercial interests, the free speech tsar has said.
In an interview with The Telegraph, Professor Arif Ahmed said vice-chancellors must 'show backbone' by upholding their commitment to free speech even when it jeopardises lucrative contracts.
He suggested that many universities are 'not doing their due diligence' before entering into research partnerships with foreign states, warning that these arrangements are making them vulnerable to free speech clampdowns.
'Universities need to understand that their reputational interests are less important than academic freedom,' Prof Ahmed said.
'If a foreign country tries to threaten a university into suppressing the speech of one of its academics, it's the job of the vice-chancellor to show backbone in that case.'
His comments come after repeated warnings that China has threatened to remove funding or investment from universities if they do not clamp down on academics critical of Beijing.
It is his first interview on the subject since the Government shelved new free speech protections for universities last summer, before U-turning earlier this year.
Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, said last July she would pause and consider repealing the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act entirely, just days before it was due to come into force.
Ms Phillipson said the flagship Conservative legislation was 'not fit for purpose', with senior Labour sources branding it a 'Tory hate speech charter' that would create a platform for Holocaust denial on campus.
However, the Education Secretary announced in January that she would revive the Act in a watered-down version, with several key elements removed. It came a week before the Government was set to face a High Court challenge over the decision to shelve the laws.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Telegraph, the free speech tsar declined to comment on either the Government's rowback or the High Court case, in which he was listed as an 'interested party'.
Prof Ahmed said it was 'not for me to get into sort of political discussions', but that he would not hesitate 'to speak my mind on particular issues as they come to us'.
The Telegraph understands that the new free speech regulations are set to come into force before the next academic year in September, although the Department for Education is yet to officially confirm this.
Prof Ahmed will oversee a new complaints scheme as part of the Act, allowing him to sanction universities if they are found to have stifled free speech for academics or visiting speakers.
Changes announced by Ms Phillipson mean there will no longer be a compensation scheme for victims of cancel culture, known as the 'statutory tort'.
Ministers are also yet to decide whether to reinstate part of the legislation that would require the Office for Students (OfS), the universities regulator, to 'monitor overseas funding' for universities.
This would have required the OfS to scrutinise whether any funding received by universities from overseas sources presented a risk to free speech and academic freedom.
China hawks said the move would have helped stamp out attempts to suppress criticism of Beijing on UK campuses through expensive partnerships and donations.
Prof Ahmed told The Telegraph that the new free speech regulations would still grant him powers to 'look carefully and closely and rigorously at whatever arrangements universities have… where these have the potential to give rise to concerns about academic freedom and freedom of speech, whatever country it is.'
Asked whether he was particularly concerned about China, the free speech tsar said there were fears that some countries may be using academic partnerships as 'instruments for spying on or for intimidating or for harassing people in this country'.
'Suppose you have an academic who expresses concerns about the human rights record of Country X, for instance. And then the ambassador of Country X talks to the vice-chancellor and says, 'well, you know that grant we were going to give you, we might not give it to you now','he said.
'Then the vice-chancellor of the university has a word with the academic and says, 'you better tone it down a bit', in a vaguely threatening way. That's contrary to everything university is for.'
It comes after The Telegraph revealed last year that Michelle Shipworth, an associate professor at University College London (UCL), was forced to drop an entire module on her energy and social sciences course after Chinese students complained about some of its content.
Her head of department at UCL told her he was taking action because 'in order to be commercially viable', the university's courses 'need to retain a good reputation amongst future Chinese applicants'.
Prof Ahmed, the director of freedom of speech and academic freedom at the OfS, warned that Britain is sliding down the Academic Freedom Index, currently ranking 66th on the global free speech chart.
'[The UK's position] has dropped radically over the past few years, and is behind pretty much every other European country,' he told The Telegraph.
'We think that's an indicator of the significance of the scale of this issue… It's a vitally serious issue, and it remains fundamental to democracy.'
He suggested universities should consider allowing students to discuss certain topics under Chatham House rules, which prohibit participants from revealing the source of particular comments made during discussions.
'We think that there could be some quite positive things that we can do in that area… Should there be deep listening? Should there be students being encouraged to write essays defending the other side? Should there be Chatham House rules?'
The free speech tsar also insisted that his new complaints scheme would 'not allow anti-Semitism, anti-Semitic harassment, anti-Semitic abuse or other illegal activity' to take place on campus.
'The Act absolutely does not hold freedom of speech for speech that's outside of the law,' he said.
'I'm definitely keen to move forward with bringing things into force… There are obviously social benefits and economic benefits to freedom of speech and academic freedom.
'More broadly, I would say it's the most important thing for Western civilisation, for our country, that freedom of speech continues to survive. It's the greatest thing we've had since the 17th century, and it's really important that we preserve it.'
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