UK: Despots and academia: More scandals 'likely'

The London School of Economics, which is trying to repair the damage done to its reputation by its links with the Gaddafi regime in Libya, is not the only UK university that has accepted money from repressive governments, writes Andy McSmith for The Independent. Saudi Arabia has been a much more lavish investor in British higher education than Libya.

China and Iran have also put money into UK universities. And despite the humiliation of the LSE, the practice of accepting money from abroad could spread because of government pressure on universities to find sources of funds other than the British taxpayer.

Robin Simcox, a researcher at the Centre for Social Cohesion, said last week that the political furore that has led to the resignation of Howard Davies, the LSE's director, was "inevitable" given the willingness of universities to accept funds from dictatorships. He warned that something similar could happen again. Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Durham have also risked placing themselves in an LSE-type predicament.
Full report on the Independent site