AN OXFORD University college is creating a new role to investigate its contribution to Britain’s colonial empire.

St John’s College is advertising for a new academic post and the successful candidate will work on a research project named St John’s and the Colonial Past, alongside Prof William Whyte, the college’s vice-president and professor of social and architectural history at Oxford.

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Prof Whyte said: “The links between Oxbridge and empire were strong and powerful.

“Their effects can still be felt today.

"Yet in recent years both colleges and universities have tended to want to forget this.

Oxford Mail:

"It’s our hope that this project will not only uncover the ways in which empire and college were intertwined but also serve as a model for other colleges to follow as they too come to terms with their history.”

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The college said the new two-year role, with a £32,236-£39,609 salary, would investigate its own history, including the education of both apologists and critics of the empire, and hoped it will set the standard for future work in other institutions’.

Oxford Mail:

The new role follows controversy over the Rhodes Must Fall campaign which began in South Africa and spread to Oxford, due to the financial links between Oriel College and its imperialist benefactor Cecil Rhodes.