Following a delay of several months, the University has published the summary of its Ethical Investment Representations Review into its investment policies relating to arms manufacture. Five recommendations were made in the report of the Ethical Investment Representations Review Subcommittee, which were, in turn, evaluated by the Investment Committee before being put to Council.
Both the initial recommendations and the ultimate decisions of Council fall well short of satisfactory on each of the five points raised in the representation submitted by Oxford UCU following the motion of 5 November 2024:
(1) The University should make its investments transparent to allow for independent review of company level holdings.
Council has endorsed the review’s recommendation to ‘enhance disclosure regarding the University’s investments,’ without further stipulation as to measure, implementation, or accountability.
Council also rejected the review’s recommendation for an annual joint meeting between EIRRS and the Committee to Review of Donations and Research Funding (CRDRF) on the premise that the confidentiality required by the latter prohibits information-sharing.
(2) The University should not invest in any arms or military technology companies
Council endorsed the review recommendation to include certain weapon types to its restriction list, but not to a blanket ban on investments in arms or military technology.
(3) The University should not invest in any companies involved in apartheid, occupation, or genocide
Neither the review’s recommendations nor the Council decision address this point, which would cover companies that produce ‘dual-use’ machinery or technology employed by the Israeli occupation, including Caterpillar, Hyundai, Volvo, and Palantir.
(4) The University should include in the EIRRS experts in ethical investments that allow for expertise beyond environmental sustainability and net zero
The review recommended that EIRRS membership include representatives from each of the four academic divisions and GLAM or a representative from the colleges, and that the EIRRS be empowered to ‘co-opt members or ask University members to join their deliberations on specific representations on a time-limited basis, such as human rights.’
Council rejected the review’s recommendation that EIRRS membership include representatives from each of the four academic divisions and GLAM or the Chair of Conference of Colleges and insisted that under current governance EIRRS ‘already has flexibility to call on a wide range of experts as required.’
(5) The University should require that members of the EIRRS do not have any conflicts of interest with respect to any of the investment restrictions categories
Neither the recommendations nor the decisions cover this point.
Oxford UCU Branch Committee, May 2026
Ox 
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