Camping out on campus was not how many students planned to end the academic year. But the past nine months have witnessed unprecedented mobilisations calling for an end to Israel’s ongoing genocidal assault against the Palestinian people. In late April and early May, the inspiring student encampments that started in the USA and have since spread around the world arrived in Britain. A wave of student protest, on a scale not seen in decades, swept British higher education. Students at no fewer than 35 institutions pitched their tents on university greens and public spaces, banners boldly painted with their demands strung up on bedsheets between trees. Above all, they were united by a simple message: that academic institutions must divest their funds from companies complicit in Israel’s colonial regime of murder and oppression.

Many encampments continued for months, and some students are still camping out.  Even though some encampments have been forcibly broken up by bailiffs called in by administrators who would rather protect their investments than listen to their students, most have made real progress towards their demands. Now is a moment to take stock of what has been achieved, to consider how we got here, and how we move forward when term resumes in the autumn.

Student campaigning in solidarity with Palestine did not start with the encampments. Students have recognised for years that British institutions do not only offer tacit support to the Israeli regime; they fund it. Research conducted by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) has found that universities in this country invest nearly £430 million in companies complicit in Israeli violations of international law. The Palestinian-led movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) recognises how essential international complicity is for Israel to maintain its system of oppression and calls on us to sever these ties of support for apartheid. In response, long before October, campaigns had been established across Britain to pressure universities to cut financial ties to those linked to Israel’s violations of human rights and international law. These demands were given fresh impetus by the start of Israel’s latest genocidal onslaught against the Palestinian people.

Early this year, students at Goldsmiths, Leeds, Bristol, Nottingham and UCL occupied university buildings, calling for their institutions to make statements calling for a ceasefire, but also for an end to university money being invested in genocide. When I spoke to students in these occupations, there was a real sense of anticipation. Pieces of A4 paper tacked to the wall in Goldsmiths’ occupied Stuart Hall Building read ‘Universities in occupation: Goldsmiths, Leeds, Bristol’. I snapped a photo as a student added ‘UCL’ in red marker, hoping more would follow. We knew this was the beginning of something big.

As the student encampments spread, media interest focused on whether the violence against students that we saw in the US would be repeated here. Thankfully, overall, this did not materialise. The encampments were determinedly peaceful, and were extremely disciplined in their approach, as exemplified by the Cambridge encampment which refused to interact with Suella Braverman. In a hilarious video, students are seen silently turning their backs on the disgraced ex-minister as she stands in the rain, refusing to engage with her camera crew and the embarrassing lengths to which she would go for a click-bait clip. When I was there, we joked that the Daily Mail was livestreaming the campers having breakfast, only to discover later that we were being photographed by that very newspaper through a telescopic camera lens. But students refused to be distracted from their purpose: as a sobering banner strung between two trees at the Oxford encampment read, ‘Israel has destroyed every university in Gaza’. Students are acutely aware of the reason they’re taking action, and the reasons they must continue organising until their demands are met.

The truth that sensationalist media coverage has partially obscured is that many encampments have been successful in pushing towards at least some of their aims.

Swansea University was an early victory: in June, students received a commitment from the university administration that they would divest the £5 million they held in Barclays Bank. The campaign against Barclays drew on research by PSC, War on Want and CAAT which found that Barclays invests over £2 billion in shares and provides £6.1 billion in loans and underwriting to nine companies whose weapons, components, and military technology are being used by Israel in its attacks on Palestinians. Swansea University’s decision came after 28 days of encampment and was a much-needed energising moment for students taking action around the country.

Student campaigners had been targeting Trinity College, Cambridge’s wealthiest college, for seven months, and just a week into the encampment, Trinity announced that it was divesting its million-pound portfolio from weapons manufacturers. Trinity had held £61,735 in Elbit Systems, the makers of the deadly Hermes 450 and 900 drones, amongst other weaponry. Students pointed to the hypocrisy of a university which claims ‘to contribute to society through education, learning and research at the highest international level’ while investing in weapons used to murder Palestinians on a daily basis.

Full divestment, not only from weapons manufacturers but from all companies that contribute to or profit from Israel’s occupation, is still the ultimate demand. But even where administrations have been reluctant to commit to divestment, the encampments have won concessions which prove that universities can — and must — take action to support Palestinians. Goldsmiths’ became the first in the country to offer undergraduate scholarships to Palestinian students; Cardiff University has doubled the number of scholarships for asylum seekers; and in June, the University of Aberdeen committed to joining the Higher Education Scholarships for Palestinians scheme.

Many encampments have also pursued the tactic of pushing for new ethical investment policies within their universities, which would prevent future investment in complicit companies and necessitate an investigation into current links. Cardiff, Aberdeen and Goldsmiths all also agreed to implement a new ethical investment policy that would preclude funding companies which are linked to apartheid. Students at the Cardiff encampment are particularly pleased with their success in pressuring the university to publish its investment portfolio for the first time, enabling them to build for full divestment campaigns in the coming academic year. Each of these victories shows — contrary to the attempts of the mainstream press to dismiss student protesters — that pressure can force universities to make change.

These victories have prepared the ground for even bigger and more effective divestment campaigns in the coming academic year. Those packing up camp this summer are leaving with a strong message: ‘We’ll be back’.