Dear readers — in 2017, when the University of Birmingham announced it would be opening a campus in Dubai, there was almost immediate backlash. Staff and students expressed concerns over what Edgbaston MP Preet Gill referred to as the “watering down” of LGBT rights and the university’s Rainbow Network warned that an act as simple as wearing a rainbow lanyard could be considered illegal in Dubai.
Seven years later, the University of Birmingham Dubai is now well up and running, having accepted thousands of students, but the criticisms haven’t entirely gone away. The Birmingham branch of the University and College Union has an ongoing boycott of the campus, and some students who spoke to The Dispatch this week expressed a belief that little had been done to address concerns raised in 2017. The university, meanwhile, told us that it “ensures fairness and inclusivity for all staff and students on our campuses in Dubai and the UK”.
That’s the topic of today’s members-only story. It’s paywalled partway down, so to read the whole thing you’ll need to be signed up. While we’re proud to be able to put out two editions entirely for free each week, keeping The Dispatch accessible to all, our paying members fund everything we do. Without them, we could cease to exist. If you’re in a position to support us, then do consider signing up today — it buys you eight extra editions every month (including this one!) as well as access to upcoming members-only events.
Things to do
🎞️ The international Birmingham Horror Film Festival takes place this weekend on Saturday and Sunday at the MAC. Featuring independent shorts and feature-length films from around the world, audiences will also get the chance to see the UK premiere of Purgatory Jack, a neo-noir mystery thriller, set in the afterlife. BOO-k here.
🎷 Described as “a breath of fresh air on the swing scene”, Down for the Count All-Stars are regularly found in jazz clubs across the UK and abroad. Tonight, they will take to the stage at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire to celebrate a century of swing, especially the genre’s heyday from the 20s through to the 50s. Buy tickets here for £26.
🎭 Birmingham-based playwright Selina Thompson’s new play Twine, about “love, loneliness, families and ghosts”, is on at the Legacy Centre of Excellence until Saturday. Partly inspired by Thompson’s experience as an adult adoptee, the work shines a light on the black, Birmingham experience of adoption. Set in a forest of bloody eggs, ghost family members, and vaudeville politicians, Twine sounds very intriguing. Buy tickets from £12.
A couple for the diary:
🗣️ 1000 Trades is hosting their regular politics evening with a twist next week. Next Tuesday’s edition of APolitical Therapy will explore the science of happiness and how to measure it with chartered environmentalist Richard Lupo. This one is free to attend but registration is required.
🎶 Birmingham Bach Choir is one of the country’s leading chamber choirs and has been serenading the city since 1919. Their new season launches next month with a special concert of rarely performed, 20th Century music at St Paul’s Church in the Jewellery Quarter on Saturday 23 November. The Rainbow Comes and Goes will feature compositions by Ireland, Britten, Rawsthorne and Rodney Bennett that explore a broad ‘nature’ theme, revelling in nature’s abundance, as well as its fragility. Paul Spicer, the choir’s musical director, says the event will be “full of wonderful music, some of which rarely gets an outing”. You can buy tickets here.
The University of Birmingham’s Dubai campus is up and running. But do its LGBTQ+ students feel safe?
I hold my phone against my ear as it rings, the line strangely crackles and beeps like a fax machine. It’s 8pm in Dubai, but this doesn’t stop someone from answering — and I have questions.
A man’s voice answers the phone, and I tell him I’m ringing on behalf of my brother who identifies as part of the LGBTQ+ community and is nervous to apply for the University of Birmingham Dubai campus. This isn’t true, sure, but I have been hearing concerning reports from students on the campus and I’m keen to hear firsthand what the university does to protect the rights and freedom of queer students studying abroad.
To his credit, the man tells me he doesn’t want to provide any wrong information or impression, he truly does want to help. “The university does nothing to protect — not much protection from the university’s side,” he tells me. I ask if many prospective students ring up and express similar concerns and he tells me instead they “try to keep it secret, you know.”
Let me catch you up. In 2017, the University of Birmingham (UoB) announced its Dubai campus — which received its first students only the following year. With courses like computer science costing £27,810 per year, the lucrative Dubai expansion makes Birmingham University globally more accessible. It’s branded to offer a dynamic, multicultural environment, targeted at international students. Despite this key demographic, the UAE site is frequently offered as a year abroad option for those already studying in the 250-acre Edgbaston campus. With the city providing excellent networking opportunities among its diverse expatriate community, plus a rapidly growing economy and demand for skilled graduates, there’s a massive incentive to study there. From the beginning, the proposal has been controversial.
