African history students awarded compensation after master’s axed

An independent adjudicator has ruled partly in favour of students who challenged the University of Chichester after their African history course was abruptly terminated in 2023.

The University of Chichester suspended recruitment to its research master’s (MRes) in the history of Africa and the African diaspora without warning, and made the course leader, Prof Hakim Adi, an academic and expert in African history, redundant.

Thirteen students took legal action against the university after it terminated their programme while they were partway through their studies.

The Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) for Higher Education found the complaint made by students against the university was partly justified, ruling that the students had a legitimate expectation to be taught by an expert under whom they had specifically enrolled to study.

The OIA determined that the university advertised its programme based on the promise that students would be able to “learn directly” from Adi, whom the university described as the “only professor of the history of Africa and the African diaspora in Britain”.

The university has been ordered to pay compensation to the affected students.

Jacqueline McKenzie, human rights partner at Leigh Day, who represented the students, said: “The OIA’s ruling is a significant victory for the students who were left in academic limbo after their course was unjustly terminated. The decision acknowledges the fundamental principle that students should receive the education they were promised, taught by the experts they signed up to learn from.”

Timi Okuwa, CEO of the Black Equity Organisation, said: “We welcome the decision by the Office of the Independent Adjudicator for Higher Education, which has ruled partly in favour of the African and Caribbean students affected by the University of Chichester’s termination of the programme. This decision is a significant step in the fight for racial justice and educational fairness.”

Adi had worked at the University of Chichester for more than a decade and founded the MRes in 2017.

The decision came amid a crippling financial crisis affecting higher education across the UK. It sparked outrage, with thousands of supporters signing a petition demanding the course and Adi be reinstated.

The course was credited with paving the way for successive historians of African descent in the UK.

Chichester was among several universities in England to implement cost-cutting measures. But critics argued that the cuts disproportionately targeted lecturers and courses dedicated to addressing racial disparities in higher education, raising concerns that Black scholarship in the UK was at serious risk of being wiped out.

A University of Chichester spokesperson said: “Like all universities, the University of Chichester periodically reviews its course portfolio in response to enrolment trends and financial pressures.

“The MRes in the history of Africa and the African diaspora regrettably closed to new applicants in 2023, but we are making every effort to work with continuing students so that they can complete their studies. We refute any suggestion of discrimination and note that the OIA claim was only partially upheld on the basis of procedural issues.”