The government has announced the formation of a new employment pipeline aimed at funnelling thousands of students into careers in Britain’s arms industry.
Defence Secretary Luke Pollard launched the Defence Universities Alliance at the University of Manchester on Monday. Thirty-five universities have been selected, with the government pouring £182 million into locking universities into research and development for the arms industry, as part of its ‘war-readiness’ operation. Areas of focus include cyber security, robotics, AI, aerospace engineering and advanced manufacturing.
Among the universities taking part in the scheme is University of Sheffield, whose Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) is already working with the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) to develop the Astrea, Britain’s new generation nuclear warhead.
Luke Pollard said this new defence skills package would help “to create opportunities for students, apprentices and young people.” However, as new research from the Transition Security Project shows, the government’s military spending for the Defence Investment Plan will cut more jobs in other areas of the economy than the ones it creates within the arms industry.
CND General Secretary Sophie Bolt said:
“This is a total abuse of our education system. The arms industry is being subsidised whilst exploiting the expertise and resources of our university system, to create profits for its ‘cutting edge’ lethal weaponry. This has profound implications for education in the country, and for the rights and welfare of students – who are already saddled with a life-time of debt – and staff – who are on zero hours contracts and in constant threat of redundancies. Instead, the government should be redirecting its spending on war and nukes into solving the funding crisis in higher education. This would create far more jobs and help create a future for young people to look forward to.”