The British University of Exeter said it had agreed to a Saudi request to train 60 Saudi military officials on its Applied Security and Strategy programme.

According to the Saudi request, Exeter is to send one or more professors to Riyadh to conduct the training there, rather than having the military personnel travel to Britain.

The university said the programme would run for three years, training 20 officials each year, and that it would receive millions of pounds in return.

Professors and academics at the university said: “We are horrified. Exeter is accepting dirty money from an authoritarian state.”