It is difficult to measure what other universities across the sector are doing to decolonise their institutions, if at all. The concept of decolonising is often misconstrued or simplified as meaning "diversity" or "diversification"; therefore some may claim to be working on this who may have misunderstood the true depth of decolonisation.
David Batty of The Guardian issued a freedom of information request to 128 universities on the subject of decolonising academia. As you can see below, there are over three times the amount of universities claiming to diversify compared to those claiming to decolonise their curriculums.
- David Batty of The Guardian found that a fifth of UK universities claim to be decolonising. This is 24 out of 128 asked.
- However 84 out of 128 have claimed to be committed to "diversifying".
What is unclear is how these institutions define both terms.
It is important to note that they claimed to be decolonising their curriculum, not the university itself. An important distinction should be made between those who are decolonising the institution itself and those who are decolonising their teaching materials. In order to truly bring institutional change, this is a process that must permeate all corners of the ivory tower.
Of those asked, only 11 universities claimed that they are decolonising university-wide, London Metropolitan University being one of them.
