The University of Wollongong's Bachelor of Arts in Western civilisation will begin in 2020.
The University of Wollongong (UOW) is under fire for accepting $50 million dollars to run a controversial Bachelor of Arts in Western civilisation.
The degree will be funded over the next eight years by The Ramsay Centre, whose board of directors includes former Liberal Party Prime Ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott.
The curriculum is yet to be confirmed, but the UOW says it will allow students to "engage directly with great works central to Western civilisation."
Critics say the degree will offer an uncritical view of Western civilisation and will, because of the political links of the Ramsay Centre, infringe on academic freedom.
The south-coast university disagrees.
"This course is about developing critical thinking in our students,” Professor Theo Farrell, the Executive Dean of Law, Humanities and the Arts at UOW, told SBS News.
Prof Farrell insists the degree will be non-partisan.
"This course will respect the values and traditions of non-Western cultures, civilisations and traditions of thought,” he said.
Greens education spokeswoman and former academic, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, told SBS News the degree is unnecessary.
“I think that it’s absolutely appalling that the university should take a cash handout to teach a course on Western civilisation," she said.
"Universities already have courses which teach Western civilisation: courses in history, in geography and social sciences.
Senator Faruqi, a Pakistani migrant, is urging UOW to reject the Ramsay Centre’s money - as well as the political ideology she claims comes with it.
"As someone who comes from Pakistan, a place which has experienced the real negative impacts of colonialism and imperialism, it completely airbrushes the impact of imperialism and colonialism. We know in Australian that Aboriginal people have also experienced the negative impacts.
“There is no place for such narrow political ideologies to be taught in universities."
This is not the first time the Ramsay Centre has offered a university funding to run the controversial degree - both Sydney University and the Australian National University have previously been approached.
The National Tertiary Education Union’s National President, Dr Alison Barnes, told SBS News union representatives raised concerns at both universities.
"The Ramsay Centre wanted to ensure that they were on selection panels for selecting staff and that they would be to attend lectures,” she said.
“This, in combination, with input into curriculum development, strikes at the heart of academic freedom."
"In the interest of transparency, the University of Wollongong management must release the Memorandum of Understanding explaining the nature of the deal they've reached with the Ramsay Centre."
The three-year degree is expected to begin in 2020.
