The number of university students flagged under the government’s Prevent counter-extremism programme has gone up by 50% in two years, with “mixed, unclear or unstable” (MUU) ideologies showing the biggest increase, according to new figures.
The latest Prevent monitoring data, published by the higher education regulator for England, the Office for Students, shows students characterised as having MUU extremist ideologies now make up the largest category.
MUU is used to describe individuals who exhibit a number of different elements from multiple ideologies, such as men’s rights, incels or conspiracy theories, or those without a coherent ideology who may still be vulnerable to being drawn into terrorism.
Two hundred and ten Prevent cases were escalated in the higher education sector in 2022-23, compared with 165 in 2021-22 and 139 in 2020-21, although the closure of campuses due to the Covid pandemic during that period may partly explain why the figures are lower.
Patrik Hermansson, senior researcher at Hope Not Hate, which campaigns against racism and fascism, said: “The rise in referrals from universities is worrying and aligns with increased interest in the extremist ideologies among young people in the UK.
“It is hard to make a detailed analysis of the MUU numbers as this is a broad and poorly defined category,” Hermansson added.
“However, the category reflects individuals who hold extreme views around a single issue, such as misogyny, which does not neatly fit into a specific ideology, and more esoteric and hard-to-define world-views such as the Order of Nine Angles (a Nazi satanist organisation) and conspiracism.”
While cases of alleged Islamist and extreme rightwing radicalisation have risen slightly over the past year, cases classified as MUU extremism have almost doubled in two years.
A total of 95 MUU cases were escalated to the point at which institutional Prevent lead officers became involved, compared with 50 in 2020-21, and of those 55 cases, were so concerning that external Prevent advice was sought. In 2020-21 the comparable figure was 31.
While two years ago, 13 cases of MUU extremism were the subject of formal Prevent referrals, data for the 2022/23 academic year showed that figure had jumped to 30. The numbers may be relatively small, but the trend is clear.
Cases centred on Islamist and extreme right radicalisation have also increased slightly in the last year, from 35 in 2021-22 to 40 in the case of suspected Islamist radicalisation. Students suspected of extreme right radicalisation rose from 30 to 35.
The most recent data covers the 2022-23 academic year and therefore does not include the period since the Hamas attack on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza. It does however cover external campus speakers, and shows that less than 1% were rejected in 2022-23, in most cases for procedural reasons.
