Revealed: UK universities discussed protest crackdown with BAE Systems

Thirteen British universities have discussed how to handle pro-Palestinian campus protests with the UK’s largest weapons manufacturer, including ramping up security at events and coordinating responses to criticism.

The correspondence between universities and BAE Systems was uncovered in emails and internal documents obtained in a joint investigation by Liberty Investigates and Al Jazeera.

One United Nations expert told us these disclosures suggest a “troubling pattern” of universities taking “operational cues and security strategies from weapons manufacturers to suppress their own students”.

Among the institutions are the University of Manchester, the University of Nottingham, the University of Southampton, the University of Birmingham, the University of Strathclyde and Cranfield University. Considered ‘strategic partners’ by BAE Systems, these universities collectively receive up to £15m a year from the company under long-term funding agreements.

In August 2024, the company appears to have encouraged them to develop an “approved message … to counteract an often skewed, but prominent narrative from protesters” on their partnerships, according to slides from a presentation which also offer security guidance for managing “on site protests”.

At that time, more than 40,000 Palestinians, including 10,000 children, had been slaughtered by Israel since October 2023, according to UN estimates. This had been done with the help of F-35 fighter jets, which BAE makes parts for. A national movement of students had been calling on their institutions to cut ties with the company, among others they deemed complicit.

When approached for comment, spokespeople for these universities variously said that they respect students’ right to lawful protest, that they have long-standing security protocols for upholding campus safety, and that they liaise with visiting organisations to inform them of their operational arrangements.

The University of Manchester added that its decisions about “communications, campus safety and event management are made by the university alone”, while the University of Birmingham said it takes “police advice where necessary” but “does not take security direction from other external parties”.

The University of Southampton and the University of Nottingham said their institutions had not worked with BAE’s other ‘strategic partners’ on a counternarrative to protesters’ criticism or adopted security strategies from the company. BAE’s “security plans are intended for the protection of their own staff, not university security arrangements,” a Southampton spokesperson added.

Also included is the University of Sheffield, whose investigator spoke to BAE staff before deciding to discipline four students who posted messages such as “BAE kills kids”, during an online careers event with the company in October 2024, according to internal documents we have seen.

The documents do not detail the content of the discussion and the university has refused our freedom of information (FOI) requests for its correspondence with the company, saying it would be too costly to identify, redact and release all relevant emails.

The investigator concluded the students “may have impacted negatively on the reputation of the university with a partner organisation”, according to the document. They were given a choice of paying a £75 fine or signing an agreement to never engage in an unauthorised protest again while at university.

A spokesperson for the University of Sheffield said its disciplinary procedures “are independent and not influenced by any external partnerships” and that it “consults all parties involved to ensure a fair process”.

They added: “We spoke with BAE staff to get their account of what happened. The outcome of the case was, as always, based on whether the students’ behaviour breached the student code of conduct, which all students agree to adhere to when enrolling at Sheffield.”

But one of the disciplined Sheffield students felt that BAE’s influence was apparent. “At the end of the day, this comes down to the relationships the university has with these companies and trying to stop them being damaged,” he said.

Gina Romero, the UN special rapporteur for freedom of peaceful association and of assembly, said: “When public universities take operational cues and security strategies from weapons manufacturers to suppress their own students, the boundary between higher education and corporate defence interests collapses.”

Liberty Investigates and Al Jazeera have also reviewed emails showing Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) and the University of Lancaster agreed to provide BAE with extra security at career events in 2024.

BAE specifically requested that the latter provide “extra security with the ability to remove protesters”, an email shows. A Lancaster spokesperson said staff and students have “every right to protest on campus” where it is lawfully done in line with its “long established policies and processes to enable peaceful protests”.

The company also requested a meeting between its security team and counterparts at QMUL, to discuss how it could “still attend future events” amid ongoing protests, according to the emails.

Three students have since been disciplined after protesting BAE’s presence at a QMUL event. Emails show QMUL staff apparently scoured social media videos to identify them before passing information on to the university misconduct team. QMUL did not respond to a request for comment.

Other universities to have discussed security measures with BAE include the University of Lancashire, Sheffield Hallam and Cardiff University. The University of Lancashire did not respond to a request for comment.

A Sheffield Hallam spokesperson said it “respect[s] the right of our students to protest and express their views peacefully and within the law”.

A spokesperson for Cardiff University said it “rejects the suggestion that we take operational cues from external organisations”. The university often puts in place “additional and proportionate security measures” based on its own risk assessments, they added.

More universities may have also discussed security measures with the company. In May 2024, the company was “rolling out guidance to its [circa] 35 ‘recruitment universities,’” according to emails we obtained between University of Southampton staff discussing careers fair protests.

BAE did not respond to a request to comment. In October 2025, the company said it did not directly sell weapons to Israel, declining to comment further. The UK does supply BAE-made components to a global pool of F-35 jets that Israel can access.

The disclosures show that the University of Nottingham and the University of Southampton apparently sought to reassure BAE that they monitor social media for signs of protest.

In November 2025, a staff member at Southampton flagged to colleagues they had “spotted some social media posts from the [Palestine Solidarity Network] society over the past few days highlighting their intent to protest” at engineering careers fair that BAE ultimately pulled out of.

Another member of staff replied: “Thanks … I brought it to the attention of our academic liaison at the company and he has forwarded it internally to those who need to know. It remains to be seen if they wish to proceed with any further events.”

The University of Glasgow also apparently sought to reassure BAE it had informed Police Scotland of a planned protest targeting an October 2023 careers fair, emails show.

A Glasgow spokesperson said the university was committed to upholding “freedom of speech on campus, including the right to peaceful demonstration” but that it “also defends the right of companies to attend recruitment fairs”.

The revelations come as the UK higher education sector faces an ongoing financial crisis.

More than a third of UK universities ran financial deficits last year, according to a study by the Office for Students, including six of the universities named in this article: Sheffield Hallam, Lancashire, Cardiff, Nottingham, Cranfield and Strathclyde.

Sheffield Hallam, Lancashire, Cardiff and Strathclyde have collectively received £6m from research partnerships with BAE since 2020, according to FOI data. Nottingham and Cranfield refused our requests.

Eleven of the 13 universities named in this article are also part of a new UK Ministry of Defence alliance. They have each pledged to expand defence research and graduate recruitment for a portion of a £182m government fund.

MP Jeremy Corbyn, founder of the Peace and Justice Project, said the idea that universities “would collaborate with the arms industry to impose [a] crackdown is disturbing beyond belief”.

“This is what happens when the arms industry becomes more and more embedded into every aspect of our society, and when higher education is hyper-commodified,” he said.

He added: “I can remember being involved in many student protests over the years, which have often been about student poverty and tuition fees, but also about international solidarity.

“In recent years, the student movement has mobilised huge numbers in support of Palestine, often protesting university investment in the arms trade. I’ve witnessed a lot of repression against student movements over the years, but it has never been as severe as it is today.”

BAE is the world’s fourth largest weapons producer, with arms production making up 92% of its revenue as of 2024, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

The company has previously drawn criticism over its treatment of protesters, allegedly spying on anti-war campaigners in the 1990s, selling cyber-surveillance tools to repressive governments, and even pursuing a legal order to ban its factory workers from striking over pay last year.

Aaron Walawalkar is an investigative journalist at Liberty Investigates and a 2026 Bertha Challenge Fellow. He produced this work as part of the Bertha Challenge Fellowship.

A version of this article was published with Al Jazeera English.