‘Students want to confront it’: academics on how to decolonise the university

Students have been calling for decolonised curriculums for years, yet few UK universities have made meaningful changes

The Black Lives Matter movement has turned up the pressure on all areas of UK society to confront its colonial legacy. Within universities, this follows on from the widespread student campaigns which have been asking for decolonised curriculums and more thinkers of colour on reading lists since 2017. Yet recent research by The Guardian shows that only a fifth of universities have made genuine attempts to address the harmful legacy of colonialism.

Three academics tell us what’s holding universities back from making the changes that their students are demanding.