Commonwealth students in the United Kingdom, 1940-1960: Student welfare and world status

Minerva

Volumn 44, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 1-24

  Lee, J M ^a,b,c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL   (United Kingdom)

^b AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^c Courtyard Cottage ^*  (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 33646436710     PISSN: 00264695     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1007/s11024-005-5411-x     Document Type: Article

References (71)

1. A.T. Carey, Colonial Students (London: Seeker & Warburg, 1956); 28-34,
2. and Peter Williams, British Aid: Educational Assistance (London: Overseas Development Institute, 1963), 64.
3. Universities Yearbook, 1957, 1813-1815.
4. The potential for disappointment was registered in an essay competition organized in 1963 by the Institute of Race Relations. See Henri Tajfel and John L. Dawson (eds.), Disappointed Guests (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1965).
5. The Tomlinson Committee Report, Colonial Office Paper 161 (1938), 2-3.
6. National Archives (Kew), CO323/1243/5, Accommodation in England for Coloured People: Aggrey House, 1932-1933.
7. National Archives (Kew), FO924/590. International Language Club, 1947.
8. Its task was to put forward political claims, such as its Charter for Colonial Freedom in March 1943. See Peter Fryer, Staying Power: Black People in Britain since 1504 (London: Pluto Press, 1984), 333.
9. Tomlinson (1876-1963) had served in Nigeria before becoming an assistant under-seeretary of state at the Colonial Office in 1930.
10. National Archives (Kew), CO859/21, Education: Supervision of Colonial Students, 1942.
11. Anthony Clayton, 'Browne, Sir Granville St John Orde (1883-1947)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), vol. 8, 164-165. Ref. No. 40958.
12. Clive Whitehead, 'Cox, Sir Christopher William Machell (1899-1982)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), vol. 13, 835-836. Ref. No. 30977.
13. J.M. Lee and Martin Petter, The Colonial Office, War and Development Policy (London: Maurice Temple Smith, 1982), eh. 3.
14. The information on the hostels comes from the minutes in CO876/16. Advisory Committee on the Welfare of Coloured People in the UK, 1942-1943. This file has been heavily weeded. There was a sub-committee on the welfare of students. It is not clear how long this continued.
15. In 1947, this committee was deemed unsuitable for the consideration of G.B. Cartland's paper on the political education of colonial elites. In 1950, it was replaced by an interdepartmental committee of civil servants from departments dealing with immigrant labour. This included the Ministries of Labour, Transport, Health, the Home Office, and the National Assistance Board. Sec National Archives (Kew), COB76/231, Inter-departmental Committee on Colonial Peoples in the UK, 1950.
16. He later became Viscount Hall (1881-1965). See his entry in the Oxford Dictionary of Biogrsphy.
17. National Archives (Kew), CO859/21/5. Supervision of Colonial Students, 1940.
18. National Archives (Kew), UGC7/569, University Grants Committee, Hostels: Proposed International Hall for Students, 1944-1956.
19. National Archives (Kew). CAB134/640, Production Committee, 1949.
20. National Archives (Kew). CO1028/26, PEP Survey of Colonial Peoples in the UK, 1952.
21. See also A.T. Carey, Colonial Students (London: Seeker & Warburg, 1956).
22. National Archives (Kew), CO876/146. International Students Hall, University of London, 1949-1952.
23. National Archives (Kew), CO859/21/5, Supervision of Colonial Students: Committee to Consider the Formation of a New Institution for Colonial Students and others of African Descent, 1940.
24. National Archives (Kew). CO537/25S5, Colonial Hostels in the UK, 1948.
25. Frances Donatdson. The British Council: The First Fifty Years (London: Cape, 1984) was commissioned by the Director General to celebrate the Council's fiftieth anniversary. It carries few details about colonial students and concentrates largely on exhibitions and programmes outside the Commonwealth.
26. Sir Anthony Kenny (ed.). The History of the Rhodes Trust, 1902-1999 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001).
27. British Council, "The Origins and Work of the Home Division, Annual Report, 1966-67 (London: The British Council, 1967), 69-73. Nancy Parkinson (1904-1974) had been hospitality secretary of the National Union of Students. She was the Controller of the Home Division from 1939 to 1968.
28. National Archives (Kew), BW3/17, 20, 30, 32, British Council, Conference of Voluntary Societies: Standing Committee Agenda and Minutes, 1950-1961.
29. 'Mary Trevelyan', Unpublished TS in the office of International Student House. London.
30. National Archives (Kew), CO1028/46, 72, and 103, Students' Units Coordinating Committee, 1954-1961.
31. It began with the presidents of nine unions, and its composition changed as unions were abolished or changed. The longest lasting were the West Indies Students Union, the West African Students Union, the Malayan Students Union, and the East African Students Federation. See National Archives (Kew), CO537/6702. Consultative Committee on the Welfare of Colonial Students, 1951-1953.
32. Dennis Austin, Politics in Ghana (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1964), 76.
33. National Archives (Kew), CO537/2574. Students General Welfare: Student Welfare and Information, 1948.
34. Ibid. Lloyd to Rees-Williams, 19 February 1948.
35. National Archives (Kew), CO537/2572. Students General Welfare: Memorandum and proposed committee, 1947-1948.
36. National Archives (Kew), CO537/2573. Students General Welfare: 'Proceedings of the Informal Committee on the Political Significance of Colonial Students in GB', 1948.
37. For the wider context, see J.M. Lee, 'British Cultural Diplomacy and the Cold War', Diplomacy & Statecraft, 9 (1), (1998), 112-134.
38. National Archives (Kew), CO876/153 and 154, The National and International Union of Students, 1950 and 1951.
39. National Archives (Kew), CO537/3541, World Federation of Democratic Youth, 1948; FO371/72848, Activities of the World Federation of Democratic Youth, 1948.
40. National Archives (Kew), CAB130/37, European Policy 1948: CAB21/2498, Official Committee on the Welfare of Colonial Students, 1948-1951.
41. Raymond Smith, 'A Climate of Opinion: British Officials and the Development of British Soviet Policy', International Affairs, 64 (4), (1988), 631-647.
42. Paul Lashrnar and James Oliver. Britain's Secret Propaganda War, 1948-1977 (London: Sutton Publishing, 1998), 58-60.
43. I applied under the Freedom of Information Act for access to these papers. I have a letter from the Cabinet Office, dated 8 December 2004, denying access on security grounds.
44. The catalogue of the National Archives suggests that both committees first met in January 1952; see entries for CAB 134/741 and CAB134/746. But a paper of 'Communism (Home)' has survived in CAB165/423, which suggests that it first met on 15 June 1951, under the Labour Government.
45. National Archives (Kew), BW1/246. British Council Records, Government Committee: Cabinet Office Committee on the Welfare of Overseas Students, 1955.
46. Examples of his work can be found in the cultural relations department files in FO924, e.g., FO924/1131/70, Cabinet Committee: Welfare of Overseas Students; FO924/1133/124, University Hall of Residence, FO Invitation to Senate House Meeting, 1956; and F0924/1135/127. Students from Abroad. AUBC returns, 1956.
47. National Archives (Kew), CAB134/2373, Committee on the Welfare of Overseas Students, 1957.
48. National Archives (Kew). BT213/40, Communism among Foreign Students, 1954.
49. National Archives (Kew), BW3/28, UK Student Welfare Policy, 1957. Nancy Parkinson sent a paper to her area officers on 24 September 1956.
50. National Archives (Kew). CAB 134/2374, 2375, and 2376. Committee on the Welfare of Overseas Students, 1959, 1961, 1962-1965.
51. National Archives (Kew), CAB134/2376, paper 1 of 21 May 1962.
52. National Archives (Kew), CAB134/1722. Committee on Educational Cooperation in the Commonwealth. ECC (O) (59) 17, 30 November1959.
53. National Archives (Kew), CAB 130.'175, GEN723 Commonwealth Youth Trust, and PREM11/3210, British Commonwealth, 1959-1961.
54. House of Commons Debates. 5 series, vol. 635 (2 March 1961), cols. 1724-1725.
55. National Archives (Kew), T219/1026, British Council: Expansion of Hostels for Overseas Students, 1961-1962.
56. The official vocabulary changed in 1969 when the Communism (Home) Committee was replaced by the Official Committee on Subversion. See National Archives (Kew). CAB165/432. Official Committee on Communism (Home), 1969.
57. P.R.C. Williams, British Aid: Educational Assistance (London: Overseas Development Institute, 1963), 63;
58. P.R.C. Williams, British Aid: Educational Assistance (London: Overseas Development Institute, 1963), 63-64.
59. Alec G. Dickson, 'Man O'War Bay', The Geographical Magazine, XXVI (10), (February 1954), 557-559.
60. For details, see J.M. Lee, 'No Peace Corps for the Commonwealth?', The Round Table, 336 (1995), 455-467.
61. PREM11/3210, British Commonwealth, 1959-1961.
62. Peter Williams, British Aid: Educational Assistance (London: Overseas Development Institute, 1963), 73. calculated a 'hidden subsidy' of £9m for overseas students as a whole.
63. House of Lords Debates, 5 series, vol. 175 (12 March 1952), cols. 663-694.
64. National Archives (Kew), CO 1028/25, Consultative Group on the Problems of Colonial Peoples in the UK, 1952-1953. This group brought together the representatives of local authorities, churches, and social work organizations.
65. Report of the Commission on Higher Education in the Colonies (Asquith Report) Cmd.6647 (1945),
66. and Report of the Commission on Higher Education in West Africa (Elliot Report), Cmd.6655 (1945).
67. See Apollos O. Nwauwa, Imperialism, Academe, and Nationalism (London: Frank Cass, 2003), 134-169.
68. House of Commons Debates. 5th series, vol. 596 (2 December 1958), cols. 1029-1030.
69. A Adu Boahen, Goats: A History of International Students House, London (London: International Students Trust, 1983).
70. Indirect costs were considered when the decision was taken in 1966 to raise lees for overseas university students. See J.M. Lee, 'Overseas Students in Britain: How their Presence was Politicised in 1966-1967', Minerva, XXXVI (4), (1998), 305-321.
71. 'Overseas students' were also increasingly seen as "international students', a term covering Europeans, Americans, and students from other countries as well. Student Mobility on the Map (The Council for Education in the Commonwealth, 2000), 72, shows that by 1998-1999, only 44,000 of the 174,000 undergraduate 'international students' in Britain came from the Commonwealth.