Difference between revisions of "Teaching About Terrorism: University of Westminster"
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*Does your institution provide any information or advice to students or staff on any potential liability under Terrorism legislation which might result from accessing materials for teaching or research? | *Does your institution provide any information or advice to students or staff on any potential liability under Terrorism legislation which might result from accessing materials for teaching or research? | ||
| − | '' | + | :''A1. The University has a ‘Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech Within the University’ and a ‘University of Westminster Diversity and Dignity at Work and Study Policy’. Copies of these documents are enclosed. Further more, the University has an IT Acceptable Use Policy readily accessible on its public website (see <ref>University of Westminster, [http://www.westminster.ac.uk/about/information-compliance Information Compliance Procedure], ''University of Westminster'', Accessed 02-November-2010</ref>). All these codes and policies, whilst not explicitly referencing Terrorism legislation, help guide staff and student behaviour in ways which may be relevant to your request. Additionally, the University provides guidance through its Research Ethics Committee on the procedures to be followed to consider and conduct research and in the bi-annual monitoring of research activity, which could possibly involve material relating to groups proscribed by the UK’s Home Office. Research guidance is readily accessible on the University’s public website (see <ref>University of Westminster,[http://www.westminster.ac.uk/study/rs/key-documents Key Documents], ''University of Wesminster'', Accessed 02-November-2010</ref>).'' |
*Does your institution have any kind of procedure to review or assess reading lists, module descriptors or other teaching materials which explicitly or in practice considers questions of safety and risk under terrorism legislation as part of its remit? | *Does your institution have any kind of procedure to review or assess reading lists, module descriptors or other teaching materials which explicitly or in practice considers questions of safety and risk under terrorism legislation as part of its remit? | ||
| − | '' | + | :''A2. The University does not explicitly address the issue you raise in any specific procedure or criteria. However, all taught courses and their constituent modules are reviewed for validation by an independent peer group. This process involves scrutiny of all syllabus content and bibliographies and other sources of information. This is not a new approach, and whilst the criteria do not explicitly address terrorism as such, in practice material which might be related to terrorism would be scrutinised through this process.'' |
*Does your institution have any system, policy or procedure in place for dealing with any potential actions taken by the authorities against the institution, its students or staff under Terrorism legislation? | *Does your institution have any system, policy or procedure in place for dealing with any potential actions taken by the authorities against the institution, its students or staff under Terrorism legislation? | ||
| − | :A3. The University does not have any specific system, policy or procedure in place for dealing with any potential actions taken by the authorities against the institution, its students or staff under Terrorism legislation. | + | :''A3. The University does not have any specific system, policy or procedure in place for dealing with any potential actions taken by the authorities against the institution, its students or staff under Terrorism legislation.'':''The University does have an ‘Incident Management and Emergency Response Plan (IMERP) which, depending on the nature of any incident or situation, may require the convening of an Incident Management Team. The composition of this team and the chain of command regarding decision making in any incident or situation will depend on the severity of any incident or the developing situation. Additionally, the University has made readily accessible on its public website a statement in relation to the general threat of terrorism and University arrangements'' (see <ref>University of Westminster, [http://www.westminster.ac.uk/about/organisation-of-the-university/policies/threat-of-terrorism Threat of Terrorism], University of Westminster, Accessed 02-November-2010</ref>) |
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| − | '':The University does have an ‘Incident Management and Emergency Response Plan (IMERP) which, depending on the nature of any incident or situation, may require the convening of an Incident Management Team. The composition of this team and the chain of command regarding decision making in any incident or situation will depend on the severity of any incident or the developing situation. Additionally, the University has made readily accessible on its public website a statement in relation to the general threat of terrorism and University arrangements'' (see <ref>University of Westminster, [http://www.westminster.ac.uk/about/organisation-of-the-university/policies/threat-of-terrorism Threat of Terrorism], University of Westminster, Accessed 02-November-2010</ref>) | ||
*Does your institution have any system, policy or procedure in place for ‘preventing violent extremism’ as recommended for example in the government guidance document ‘Promoting Good Campus Relations’? | *Does your institution have any system, policy or procedure in place for ‘preventing violent extremism’ as recommended for example in the government guidance document ‘Promoting Good Campus Relations’? | ||
Revision as of 12:49, 2 November 2010
Teaching About Terrorism is a 2009/10 research project funded by C-SAP, one of the Higher Education Academy's subject networks. The project aims to research the extent and nature of teaching about terrorism in UK Universities, primarily in the disciplines of Sociology, Politics and Criminology[1].
Freedom of Information Request 1
- Does your institution provide any information or advice to students or staff on any potential liability under Terrorism legislation which might result from accessing materials for teaching or research?
- A1. The University has a ‘Code of Practice on Freedom of Speech Within the University’ and a ‘University of Westminster Diversity and Dignity at Work and Study Policy’. Copies of these documents are enclosed. Further more, the University has an IT Acceptable Use Policy readily accessible on its public website (see [2]). All these codes and policies, whilst not explicitly referencing Terrorism legislation, help guide staff and student behaviour in ways which may be relevant to your request. Additionally, the University provides guidance through its Research Ethics Committee on the procedures to be followed to consider and conduct research and in the bi-annual monitoring of research activity, which could possibly involve material relating to groups proscribed by the UK’s Home Office. Research guidance is readily accessible on the University’s public website (see [3]).
- Does your institution have any kind of procedure to review or assess reading lists, module descriptors or other teaching materials which explicitly or in practice considers questions of safety and risk under terrorism legislation as part of its remit?
- A2. The University does not explicitly address the issue you raise in any specific procedure or criteria. However, all taught courses and their constituent modules are reviewed for validation by an independent peer group. This process involves scrutiny of all syllabus content and bibliographies and other sources of information. This is not a new approach, and whilst the criteria do not explicitly address terrorism as such, in practice material which might be related to terrorism would be scrutinised through this process.
- Does your institution have any system, policy or procedure in place for dealing with any potential actions taken by the authorities against the institution, its students or staff under Terrorism legislation?
- A3. The University does not have any specific system, policy or procedure in place for dealing with any potential actions taken by the authorities against the institution, its students or staff under Terrorism legislation.:The University does have an ‘Incident Management and Emergency Response Plan (IMERP) which, depending on the nature of any incident or situation, may require the convening of an Incident Management Team. The composition of this team and the chain of command regarding decision making in any incident or situation will depend on the severity of any incident or the developing situation. Additionally, the University has made readily accessible on its public website a statement in relation to the general threat of terrorism and University arrangements (see [4])
- Does your institution have any system, policy or procedure in place for ‘preventing violent extremism’ as recommended for example in the government guidance document ‘Promoting Good Campus Relations’?
Freedom of Information Request 2
Resources
- Freedom of Information Results, Teaching About Terrorism: FOI Results
Notes
- ↑ Teaching Terrorism, About, Teaching Terrorism, Accessed 24-September-2010
- ↑ University of Westminster, Information Compliance Procedure, University of Westminster, Accessed 02-November-2010
- ↑ University of Westminster,Key Documents, University of Wesminster, Accessed 02-November-2010
- ↑ University of Westminster, Threat of Terrorism, University of Westminster, Accessed 02-November-2010
