UCL summer news roundup
Source: UCL News
Haven’t been keeping up with UCL News over the summer break? Mia Lui rounds up the key stories you might have missed.
UCL East
UCL is expanding to east London with a brand new edition to the Bloomsbury campus: UCL East. Construction officially began on 2nd July, with Mayor of London Sadiq Khan breaking ground alongside Provost Michael Arthur. The new campus will have a total capacity of 180,000 sqm, and is expected to bring together eight UCL faculties with a total of 4,000 students and 260 academic staff.
UCL East is part of East Bank, a vast new £1.1bn culture and education project. At the site, UCL will be joining other prestigious institutions such as the BBC and the V&A museum. The project is funded by the Mayor of London and the UK government: total investment for East Bank comes to £151 million, of which £100 million will go towards UCL East. Construction will be completed in phases throughout 2022 and 2023.
However, not all academics and staff members at UCL approve of the expansion. Some feel that UCL has no need for more students, the population already numbering 42,500, and that it should be making money via research rather than student fees. Others are unhappy with the lack of consultation about the project’s funding, as well as with the lack of attention given to the Bloomsbury campus.
Search for new Provost
The search for the next UCL President and Provost continued over the summer. The current Provost Michael Arthur will be leaving his post at the start of the 2020/21 academic year after seven years of leading the university. In July, UCL’s Council invited students to take part in a focus group to help with the selection process. In September, UCL launched an international search for its next Provost. Applications are closing on 30th September 2019. Under Arthur’s leadership, UCL has achieved top places in world university rankings. But he was also frequently met with criticism – from both students and staff – regarding a number of issues, including the recent expansion to UCL East.
Eugenics inquiry
Since December 2018, UCL has been conducting an inquiry into its historical links with eugenics. The inquiry was launched following widespread concerns which intensified after the discovery in January that secret conferences on eugenics and intelligence had been run at the university for several years by an honorary senior lecturer, without the university’s knowledge. All ties with the lecturer have since been cut, but UCL’s involvement in the history of eugenics remains significant.
The eugenics movement owes its origins and advancement to prominent UCL academics, including Francis Galton and Karl Pearson, and multiple university spaces continue to bear their names. The university has struggled to come to terms with its role in the history of eugenics and how this is echoed within racism today.
Throughout the summer, students and staff were encouraged to take part in the inquiry by completing an online questionnaire or attending a focus group. A survey was also available to the general public. You can find the links here.
The inquiry grapples with questions of how the university should approach its historical role in the eugenics movement. Specifically, it asks whether university buildings should still be named after Galton and other eugenicists. As part of a campaign to ‘decolonize’ the university, the Students’ Union lobbied to have Galton’s name removed from a lecture theatre and a laboratory. The inquiry saw UCL academics split over how to confront the university’s past wrongs. Some argue that those like Galton are honoured for their scientific, rather than political, achievements, while others believe it is impossible to extricate eugenics and its founders from ideologies of racism.
NHS partnership for mental health
In a national project that unites the NHS and universities, UCL is working with local mental health services to improve support for its students. The nationwide initiative comes amid continually rising mental health concerns among undergraduate students. It will focus on improving how mental health care and support are coordinated between universities and NHS services.
The universities involved are collaborating with their local NHS trusts; UCL is teaming up with Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, the largest provider of mental health services to UCL students. The project is funded by the Office of Students, which has invested a total of £14.5 million in a major effort across 10 collaborative projects. UCL also officially launched its new Institute of Mental Health in July.
Smoke Free Campus
UCL is implementing a new no-smoking policy on 23 September banning smoking across the entire campus. The ban includes all areas belonging to UCL, including public spaces and outdoor spaces. That means no more smoking in Malet Place, Foster Court, the Main Quad, South Quad, Wilkins Terrace and the Japanese Garden. Smoking is also forbidden within five metres of entrances to UCL buildings or outside open windows. Additionally, the policy includes providing information and support to those who wish to quit smoking. Previously, UCL prohibited smoking in internal spaces and restricted it near building windows and entrances. However, changing views around smoking and the negative effects on health initiated the proposal of a new ‘smoke-free’ policy, developed after consulting the UCL community.
Syrian refugee with UCL scholarship denied visa
A Syrian refugee with a full scholarship from UCL was allegedly denied a visa by the Home Office. The incident was reported in a Twitter post by Abi Wilkinson. Wilkinson’s brother-in-law from Syria, currently living in Lebanon with refugee status, was rewarded a full UCL scholarship, but his visa application was rejected by the Home Office claiming he was not “a real student”. A member of staff from UCL Admissions replied to the post offering to help and pointing out it was not too late for a second visa application as UCL continues to enroll students until 11 October. Others suggested taking the issue up with the local MP.
People and Planet University ‘Green’ League
UCL rose to its highest position yet in the People and Planet University ‘Green’ League and received a First Class honours status for the fourth year in a row. At 18th place out of 154, UCL is 4th among Russell Group universities. People and Planet is the largest student network in the UK campaigning on global injustice, poverty and the environment. Its ranking of UK universities, the University League, is an independent table assessing the institutions’ environmental and ethical performance. In the past five years, UCL has risen from 89th place to 18th in the ranking. You can read the full report on UCL here. UCL will be launching its new Sustainability Strategy in October, with a focus on climate change, unsustainable consumption and local environments.