Abstract:

I present initiatives undertaken by the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine (GHSM) at King’s College London (KCL), aiming at contributing to decolonising higher education institutions (HEI). HEI must adopt multicultural approaches to learning, integrate indigenous perspectives, and critique the European-centric academic knowledge domination.

During the academic years 2021-2024, GHSM executed:
(1) a gap analysis exercise of undergraduate core modules,
(2) a free short pilot course on decolonising research methods with undergraduate students from KCL and Global South partner universities,
(3) semi-structured interviews with academics and a focus group with GHSM students on decolonising HEI,
(4) a workshop with GHSM students and academics on decolonising curriculum and research methods,
(5) a public symposium on decolonising knowledge production, inviting speakers from the Global South
(6) the creation of publicly accessible online archive on decolonising global, and
(7) an accredited Master’s module on decolonising research methods in global health, taught in collaboration with experts from the Global South.

Findings revealed that decolonising HEI must be led by students who call for integrating an agenda that places anti-racism at the core, incorporating Indigenous and marginalised histories and ways of knowing in the curriculum, working on equal grounds with the Indigenous and marginalised and creating a non-hierarchical, multi-way teaching university environment.

Keywords:

Anti-racism, Curriculum, Decolonisation.