Azhir Mahmood  🚀 🤖 🧬 🧠 🪐

UCL now hosts Facebook’s PhD programme. Not an endowment or grant with guaranteed independence, but a business partnership where the company (as in this press release) describes the PhD programme, consistently as “ours”.https://twitter.com/alexvoica/status/1364306538521890820 …

I think these are good concerns, but has anyone spoken to PhD students about what they want? Will this improve diversity and inclusion postgraduate level? Will it mean supervisors are likely to be more accountable as an external company is involved?

Tech firms have comparably poor diversity and inclusion to unis, which are abysmal. Not sure why they would be more accountable (to whom? they’re subject to fewer equality laws). Universities have totally failed, but the solution is not to privatise them.

They’re definitely not subject to fewer equality laws. University complaints go through the OIA — which isn’t particularly independent. Workers at tech companies are protected by employment rights and the employment tribunal.

Private companies, unlike universities, aren’t subject to the public sector equality duty which can be used to challenge every decision it makes. I’m also not really sure you want to go against Facebook, one of the most litigious companies in the world, at an employment tribunal.

I agree with the latter. But public sector Equity Duty is a section of the Equity Act 2010. You can go to the EHRC or OIA, but frankly it’s a losing battle. Similarly it’s so rare to win.

EHRC I agree is useless and in dire need of reform and increasing its powers. You have to threaten or use judicial review to make use of the PSED.

You’re not going to win by going through judicial review. The court will throw out the case and argue you should have gone through the EHRC or OIA. I’ve seen that happen numerous times.