A UNIVERSITY has defended providing military training for officers from oppressive regimes, saying the work focused on peace keeping and humanitarian activities.

More than 500 high ranking officers and airmen from countries such as Sudan, China and Libya have studied courses in military English and aviation English at York St John University since 2005.

A number of the countries that sent officers to the university have since been accused of human rights abuses against their own citizens, including several such as Algeria, Yemen and Syria which have brutally opposed the so-called Arab Spring.

The revelations will re-open the debate about universities receiving cash from outside sources, after Durham University repeatedly came under fire for accepting cash from controversial sources including the Iranian government, a member of Kuwait's royal family and the US government.

The York St John figures were obtained by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) under a Freedom of Information request.

Barnaby Pace, a member of CAAT's steering committee, said the numbers were significant given the relatively small size of the university, which has about 6,000 students.

"What is concerning is the seniority of some of the officers that have come over from these countries, given that the courses are designed to get their English up to a standard that will allow them to go on to further work or learning," he said.

"There seems to have been no investigations of the ethical or legal implications of this - the representatives of the university certainly had no paperwork to suggest that.

"It's extremely concerning given the behaviour of some of the regimes they are dealing with."

A spokeswoman for York St John University said the institution held contracts with the MoD and RAF to support English-language training for international relations work.

She said: "The primary purpose of the courses we offer is to support international communications and conflict resolution, with a focus on peace-support and other multinational operations - for example humanitarian and disaster relief."

The office of Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, became the university's first chancellor in 2007.

A spokesman for his office said he was unable to comment on the FOI requests.