SCOTTISH UNIVERSITIES should be more transparent about the military research carried out for arms companies, a new report says.

The study says that Edinburgh and Glasgow universities received £7 million and £5.2m respectively from 2001 to 2006 for military-related research, with funding from major defence companies such as BAE Systems and QinetiQ, as well as government funding.

Peace activists the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) and the Fellowship of Reconciliation (FoR) jointly published Study War No More, a report that reveals the names of 26 UK universities that have received contracts worth around £725m for 1900 military projects over the six-year period.

Martha Beale, FoR's education and campaigns officer and co-author of the report, said it took two years to compile the information, mostly through Freedom of Information requests. The report recommends that universities make such contracts publicly available for discussion to stop the "culture of secrecy".

She said: "I think that universities shouldn't hide their relationships with these companies, and if they aren't ashamed of it then make it more transparent."

The report also calls for universities to establish ethics committees in which university managers, academics, students and representatives from industry should review research with military applications.

The two organisations claim that Glasgow University has undertaken 82 projects with companies such as QinetiQ, an international defence and security company that in 2000 gave £18,290 to the university's department of aerospace engineering to look at the potential for the application of "smart" materials on helicopter rotor blades.

Other project titles are more ambiguous, such as Edinburgh University's CoAX-Coalition Agents eXperiment, where Lockheed Martin, Boeing and QinetiQ were among the sponsors.

Beale said the titles of these projects made it very difficult to determine the focus of the research. She also questioned some of the universities' appointments, such as Glasgow University's programme manager for a Defence Sector Initiative Programme.

"The university is hiring someone to have a direct relationship with a number of military organisations and to increase their participation in military research and development, so they will develop relationships which will grow over a number of years and will become a reliable source of income for them."

Beale also said she suspected Edinburgh University of having a "pre-established relationship" with US military organisations because they have "so many contracts with them". She said questions had to be raised over the independence of these universities.

"Universities are telling students these departments are great places to learn, get qualifications and experience, but they're not telling them your course is being influenced by these companies. For true transparency and independence in education these influences should be acknowledged."

Mike Gonzalez, Professor of Latin American Studies and a member of Glasgow University's Stop the War Coalition, said: "Universities are obsessed about the search for external funding for everything. It becomes the measure of whether you survive or not.

"If universities require government funding then let it come from the Ministry of Education and not the Ministry of Defence."

The university's Stop the War Coalition said it would be pursuing the establishment of an ethics committee next semester.

Jennifer Stout, a member of Edinburgh University's Stop the War Coalition, said it had twice unsuccessfully tried to pass a motion to introduce a research ethics oversight committee, with the latest attempt last month.

Stout said students had expressed concern about what research was being carried out at the university.

She said: "People don't know what's going on, but next semester we will make sure that research being undertaken at Edinburgh University is common knowledge, and if they want to object to it then there should be clearer ways to do that."

A spokesman for Edinburgh University said it was "transparent in its financial dealings" and that "students and staff have the right to raise issues of concern through the appropriate channels".

A spokesman for Glasgow University said: "There is no weapons research being carried out at the University of Glasgow.

"Defence and security-related research - which can have both defence and civilian applications - is ongoing at the university in conjunction with government bodies and industry."