University of Glasgow awarded Times Higher Education University of the Year 2020

That this House congratulates the University of Glasgow on being named University of the Year at the Times Higher Education Awards on 26th November 2020; recognises that this is in recognition of the University’s work to redress its historic links to slavery through a reparative justice programme, which included the Memorandum of Understanding with the University of the West Indies and the foundation of a Glasgow-Caribbean Centre for Development Research which commits the University of Glasgow to raising and spending £20 million over the next 20 years, and scholarships for UK students of African and Caribbean heritage; acknowledges the report, Slavery, Abolition and the University of Glasgow, by Dr. Stephen Mullen and Prof. Simon Newman, the first of its kind in the United Kingdom, which revealed the institution’s historic connections with Atlantic slavery, having received significant financial support from people whose wealth was derived from slavery and continuing to benefit from this capital; pays tribute to the many years of anti-racist and Black activism from organisations such as the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights, Flag Up Scotland Jamaica and many others who have opened up these vital conversations about Glasgow’s past; and echoes the University’s commitment that this should be a start but certainly not an end point in their work to help achieve racial justice and equality.