ACADEMICS are fuming after a university accepted a £2.5m gift from the under-fire Prime Minister of Kuwait.
Durham University took the money from Sheik Nasser Bin Muhammad Al-Sabah, a member of Kuwait’s royal family, who has faced demonstrations calling for his resignation as freedom protests sweep the Middle East and North Africa.
The money, from the sheik’s personal fortune, will be used to fund an academic chair, research and two PhD studentships.
In an email to staff, Professor Chris Higgins, the university’s vice-chancellor, congratulated its School of Government and International Affairs and Development Office for raising the “significant funding”, and said: “We are extremely grateful to all our partners and donors for their generosity.”
However, a group of unidentified university staff, calling themselves Concerned Academics, said the sheik was an autocratic, unelected premier appointed by his uncle, the emir.
Full story in today's The Northern Echo
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