The major student organisations condemned the 2007 boycott vote:
NUS response to UCU boycott vote
Responding to the UCU boycott vote, NUS National President Gemma Tumelty said:
"NUS does not support the principles behind an academic boycott of Israel. Such a boycott undermines the Israeli academics who support Palestinian rights, and hinders the building of bridges between Israelis and Palestinians. Retaining dialogue on all sides will be crucial in obtaining a lasting peace in the Middle East.
International academics have a lot to offer higher education students in the UK and a boycott of this specific country is extremely worrying.
We will express our concerns to UCU and we are awaiting clarification from them on the exact nature of this policy and its potential impact on students and the academic community.
From officeronline.co.uk
NPC response to UCU boycott vote
National Postgraduate Committee (NPC) General Secretary Simon Felton has responded to the University and College Union boycott vote by saying that the National Postgraduate Committee renews its wholehearted support for academic freedom and its opposition to any boycott.
A boycott would run contrary to our objective, which is to advance in the public interest the education of postgraduate students within the UK. The Committee on Human Rights of Scientists of the New York Academy of Sciences responded to the 2002 boycott saying it "violates the basic principles of scientific freedom and scholarship"[2]. The NPC echoed these sentiments in its response to the 2002 boycott and continues to support these views that a boycott attempt based on nationality encourages discrimination and goes against the principle of judging academic work on its merits alone [3]. A boycott prevents collaborations and working with leading research and encourages further discrimination against some students and staff within the UK.
The NPC will continue to invite contributions from Israeli academics to its own publications, including the Journal of Graduate Education.
The NPC will express its concern to UCU about the impact on postgraduate students and the academic community.
From npc.org.uk
