[Geo4All] Anti-Corruption in UK universities

[Suchith Anand]

Dear colleagues,

The University of Greater Manchester vice-chancellor suspended last year over allegations of financial mismanagement and other misconduct has been sacked from his post. Details at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1j19yx4026o

Are UK universities doing enough to monitor internal fraud or financial misconduct?

UK universities should enforce strict anti-corruption measures under the UK Bribery Act 2010.

UK universities would do well to learn from the mistakes of Australian and Canadian institutions foolish enough to engage with corporate consultants Nous etc. These companies promises of efficiency and savings have ultimately proven costly and incredibly damaging to higher education,  staff and students.

“Nousferatu”: Are corporate consultants extracting the lifeblood from universities? Details at  https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10714413.2023.2290972#d1e114

‘Mind-boggling stupidity’: The consultancy that captured universities
https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/education/2025/06/14/mind-boggling-stupidity-the-consultancy-that-captured-universities

"Campus Chaos" on Australian ABC is a must watch for anyone working in a UK university - sobering to see what is going on in Australian Universities, and how inflated VC and executive salaries, institutional opacity, and terrible advice from consulting firms has led to needless job and course cuts in many Australian universities. This is essentially vandalism of an essential social good. Working at the University of Exeter where over 500 of my academic colleagues were notified in June 2026 that they are at risk of redundancy , the revelations in this documentary are familiar. 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-30/campus-chaos/106513874

Please sign our petition to defend Humanities and Social Science. Over 35,000 have signed the petition to stop redundancies at the University of Exeter. Details at https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/geoforall/2026-July/006684.html

I request the UK government to investigate the role of consultancy firms involved in advising the university senior managements on ‘restructuring’ and senior university management of many UK universities taking significant pay rises and bonuses.

Best wishes

Suchith


> On 5 Aug 2026, at 13:19, Suchith Anand  wrote:
> 
> Dear colleagues,
> 
> According to the Guardian article dated  8 July 2026 , three people have been arrested as part of an investigation into financial crimes involving the University of Greater Manchester, including allegations of fraud, bribery and money laundering.  
> 
> Details at https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/jul/08/three-arrested-investigation-university-of-greater-manchester
> 
> https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0ly5550jkxo
> 
> https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/dec/04/regulators-inquiry-university-greater-manchester-fraud-claims
> 
> These news on alleged financial irregularities at the University of Greater Manchester raises questions on the governance and financial structures in UK Higher Education.
> 
> This also raises some serious questions of the Office for Students and why they didn't catch any of this? 
> 
> The police only got involved thanks to some good local investigative journalism. Let's protect actual journalism, and let's change the governance & funding system of UK Higher Education.
> 
> What does Andy Burnham’s promise to transfer power from Westminster to local communities mean for academic communities?
> 
> This article “UK devolution must extend to its authoritarian universities” published in Times Higher Education  might be of interest. Institutions whose managers are unaccountable to their staff can never be truly civic universities, says Krzysztof Nawratek. Details at
>  https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/uk-devolution-must-extend-its-authoritarian-universities
> 
> This article on “A Co-operative Future for Britain’s Universities?” by Dr Michael Paraskos might be of interest. Details at 
> https://party.coop/2026/07/03/a-co-operative-future-for-britains-universities/
> 
> This book  launched in July 2026 titled “Corrupted Kingdom: Britain’s Disappearing Integrity – and How We Can Get It Back”  by Professor Robert Barrington (Professor of Anti-Corruption Practice at the University of Sussex) might be of interest. Details at https://www.sussex.ac.uk/research/centres/centre-for-study-of-corruption/index
> 
> The UK's universities are facing an unprecedented crisis. Across the sector, thousands of jobs are being lost, departments are shrinking, and research capacity is being eroded. I request the UK government to investigate the role of consultancy firms involved in advising the university senior managements on ‘restructuring’ and senior university management of many UK universities taking significant pay rises and bonuses throughout a worsening national economic situation.
> 
> Best wishes
> 
> Suchith
> 
> Professor Suchith Anand
> Professor of Practice in Science Policy | Senior Adviser to Governments and International Organisations | Scientist | Global Citizen | Science Diplomacy |  SDG Volunteer and Advocate
> https://spspa.exeter.ac.uk/people/profile/index.php?username=sa1131
> https://ethicaldatainitiative.org <https://ethicaldatainitiative.org/>
> 

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