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.
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.
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 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.
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.
