A STUDY of free speech in universities in the UK has placed Worcester in the top 20 per cent in the country.

The survey by online magazine Spiked looked at policies and actions at all 115 universities in the country and their associated student unions, ranking them with a traffic light system according to how much they were seen to restrict free speech and expression.

The University of Worcester was one of only 23 in the UK ranked green, meaning both the institution and its student union was seen to foster an environment allowing free speech. The only concern raised in the study was the universitys harassment and bullying policy, which bans conduct considered patronising or belittling, including display of materials with sexual images and/or words and ridiculing or demeaning someone in public or private, but this was considered relatively minor.

The universitys vice chancellor Professor David Green described freedom of expression as a fundamental liberty and said the institution was committed to following the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted in 1948.

In the year in which we celebrate the 800th Anniversary of Magna Carta, it is more important than ever to uphold this principle and to promote, protect and preserve all other fundamental human liberties including the rights to Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, he said.

The disregard of human rights has led and is leading to the most barbarous crimes against individuals and humanity.

At the university we are proud and delighted to contribute to the worldwide movement for liberty, human dignity and human rights.

The study was prompted by a series of incidents in which speeches and other events at universities were cancelled as a result of objections by students, the widespread banning of the controversial Robin Thicke song Blurred Lines following concerns it trivialised rape and questions over anti-bullying policies seen as overly restrictive.

The report ranked 47 universities, or 41 per cent of all those in the UK, as red, including those in Aston, Coventry, Gloucestershire and Staffordshire.

Bath, Cambridge, Nottingham and Wolverhampton were among the 45, or 39 per cent, ranked amber, while the remaining 23, including York, Bolton, and Sunderland, were rated green.

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University of Worcester fares well in free speech study