By Carmen Wilson, Director of Operations at Demilitarise Education (dED), September 19, 2025
The demilitarise education movement in the UK has achieved a recent policy win!
After sustained campaigning and public consultation, the University of Sussex is set to adopt a policy that fully excludes arms companies from its investments. After going through consultation and engagement by both the wider and immediate university community, the draft policy has passed and is now with the University Council for final approval in October 2025.
This is a major step forward, and it reflects the power of collective advocacy. As part of the consultation process, Demilitarise Education (dED for short) submitted detailed comments rooted in the principles of peace, transparency, and ethical education.
Our submission helped shape the draft and push for stronger commitments aligned with the dED Treaty — a practical framework to help universities end all investments and partnerships with the arms trade.
This article will provide a breakdown of how this policy win was achieved and what more we can do to advocate and ensure accountability to ethical divestment from the global arms trade.
How We Got Here: The Context & Timeline
This marks a significant moment for campaigners who have long called on higher education institutions to cut ties with the arms trade. It demonstrates how sustained advocacy, transparency, and community engagement can lead to concrete policy change.
Timeline of Events
April 2024 – dED gave a policy-reform focused workshop to student and staff campaignersMay 13, 2024 – Encampment for Palestine launched on campus, followed by engagement with the Vice Chancellor and negotiationsFebruary 2025 – Sussex announces review of Socially Responsible Investment PolicyMarch 2025 – dED responded to the open consultationJune 2025 – Next round of consultation for University members onlyJuly 2025 – University Council final approval of the policy draftOctober 2025 – New policy version set to be published
A Detailed Breakdown
In February 2024, Sussex announced that its Council (the University’s governing body) would form a working group of student and staff representatives, and review the university’s Socially Responsible Investment Policy. The statement emphasised the need to ensure the policy considered “changing global contexts and investment opportunities, it was agreed that a review would be carried out to ensure that the policy aligns with our institutional values and remains sector-leading.”
We were happy to see the university engaging with the wider community, showing a commitment to both transparency and inclusion in the policy review process.
In March 2025, dED submitted a detailed response to the open consultation. The policy framework contained 10 guiding principles, including one particularly important addition:
Guiding Principle #5 — Excluded Investments
“Armaments — production of weapon systems or their critical components. The University will not invest in any organisation where there is confirmed involvement in the production of weapons regulated or prohibited by international convention (controversial weapons); antipersonnel mines, cluster munitions, chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, or the supply of their key components.”
dED’s Recommendations
Building on this foundation, dED proposed stronger commitments rooted in transparency, inclusion, and long-term accountability, the core values set out in the dED Treaty. Among the recommendations were:
Emphasis on human rights and recognition that arms investments undermine the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through arms divestment, the University can actively work towards the achievement of the SDGs through social impact investment.Full arms exclusion by removing turnover limits and clearly defining ‘arms companies’ by using the SIPRI and Defence News Top 100 arms-producing companies as the source lists, ensuring exclusions extend beyond controversial weapons. Changing “minimise exposure” to “eliminate exposure,” demonstrating a complete commitment to divestment.Extending exclusions to companies supplying arms to countries in violation of UN international law.Transparency and accountability measures: public disclosure through publishing full policies as downloadable PDFs, disclosing third-party fund managers, their policies, and alignment with university values, and sharing meeting minutes with the wider university community. A clear and transparent divestment process, including at least one-third reductions per year, with progress reported annually in financial statements.As public institutions, universities should be held accountable beyond immediate university stakeholders, with clear governance over investment decision-making — including frequency, criteria, and oversight mechanismsInclusion in governance: ensuring diverse student and staff participation (beyond union representatives), regular opportunities to comment before and after each review, and open consultations with the wider community.Ethical compliance with charity obligations, reminding trustees that investing in arms companies contradicts the university’s charitable purpose and duty to provide public benefit.
Engagement and Next Steps
On June 18th, the university hosted an engagement session with staff and students to discuss the draft. dED members attended and contributed to the dialogue. The draft policy was then presented to the University Council in July for discussion and revision, and is scheduled for final approval in October.
The full draft policy can be read here.
Why This Win Matters
Investments in arms companies violate the university’s charitable purposes and public benefit responsibilities.
Sussex’s approach demonstrates the value of diverse inclusion and public engagement. It shows that when universities open space for dialogue, community voices can strengthen policy and push institutions toward greater accountability.
This outcome also reflects the momentum of wider public advocacy, including dED’s recently launched Open Letter Campaign, which has so far mobilised over 600 university students, staff and alumni to call on UK universities to end their partnerships with arms companies.
Sussex’s willingness to listen and act is a reminder of what collective pressure can achieve and the importance of policy change, turning commitments into action to secure accountability in the long term.
Stand with Us
This is a win. But it’s also a model for how change happens: together, and from the inside.
It’s the dED Treaty in action. We’re building a higher education system that lives its values — of peace, transparency, inclusion, and global justice. But we’re just getting started.
Support the campaign to help us achieve more wins like this one – If you’re a student, staff member or alumni of a UK university, add your name to this historic call and help ensure that universities live up to their values
Open Letter: A Call to End University War Complicity
Many UK universities still invest heavily in the arms trade. Together, we can hold them to higher standards. Add your name to our Open Letter and help ensure that universities live up to their values of peace, transparency, and global responsibility.
The post Policy Win at Sussex: Kicking Out the Arms Trade Through Ethical Investment appeared first on World BEYOND War.
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