Serious doubts raised over their deal with Saudi Arabia
August 2026
Any organisation preparing to engage in a commercial transaction with a state like Saudi Arabia, needs to ask itself some serious questions. Exeter University is reported in the Guardian newspaper (29th August) to have agreed to offer a MA course ‘applied security and strategy’ with a Saudi University. Whether the university asked itself those questions is unknown but having agreed to offer it they seemed keen to keep it quiet.
The University was in the news earlier in the year when it announced that it was axing 150 jobs in the humanities and social sciences departments and along with other universities, is struggling financially. The main reason is the drop in the number of overseas students due to government restrictions which ended a lucrative income stream. They need to work hard to ward off more serious financial problems.
Little positive to say about Saudi Arabia
What can we say about Saudi, their proposed partner? Firstly, there is no realistic free speech in the country and those who displease the authorities are arrested and imprisoned for long periods. It executes large numbers of people and 2025 was a record at 347 (although it is likely to be more) which was just ahead of 2024’s total of 345. Charges are vague and confessions are often acquired using torture. Apostasy is still a crime. Few have any legal defence. Executions are carried out in public and the most frequent method is beheading with a sword.
Women’s rights are dismal and the ‘guardianship’ system is still in place. This law formally enshrines male guardianship over women, requiring them to obtain a male guardian’s consent for marriage and giving husbands significant authority over wives, including financial support contingent on “obedience” and marital cohabitation.
Migrants have few rights.
They have wreaked terrible destruction in Yemen with a war against the Houthis backed by Iran.
If the university considered these issues they would had to have weighed up organising a masters programme against the dire human rights situation in Saudi. They may have drawn comfort from the UK’s relaxed attitude allowing arms sales and other commercial deals to take place making them one of our largest countries for our weaponry. Selling arms and helping Saudi with their assault on Yemen is surely worse than running a teaching course in Exeter they might reason.
The issue comes down to integrity and morals. How much do you, as a university, take into account the large number of executions, torture, lack of human rights, lack of an opposition and women treated as vassals, against a lucrative income training some people from the National Defense University in Riyadh?
The University’s college union, UCU, is not impressed and has said ‘they (the university) is more interested in flogging military training to despotic regimes than in defending world class humanities and social sciences teaching.’ It looks as though the university chose money over morals.
Sources: Guardian; Death Penalty Information Center; Human Rights Watch; Amnesty; Exeter University.
Image generated by AI.
Amnesty in Salisbury & South Wiltshire 
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