UAE restricts students studying in Britain due to Islamist indoctrination at UK universities

Emirates determines level of Islamist radicalisation on British university campuses is indoctrination risk

The United Arab Emirates has moved to limit the number of its students coming to study at UK universities, out of concern that British academic institutions have failed to prevent Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood from spreading their indoctrination.

As reported by The Times, the UAE, which provides significant bursaries via government programmes to citizens who seek to study abroad in specific fields, will withdraw these benefits for those seeking to study in the UK, while maintaining them for other countries. This means that while wealthy Emirati families can still choose to send their children to study in Britain, footing the costs themselves, the number of Emirati students at UK academic institutions, currently approximately 8,500, is likely to shrink significantly in the coming years.

Set up as a transnational Islamist organisation in Egypt almost a century ago, the Brotherhood has been declared a terrorist group in countries including Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, while its key backers have been Qatar and Turkey. Last year, the Jordanian government also announced a full ban on the organisation after reportedly uncovering evidence relating to a sabotage plot linked to its members. The group’s longtime spiritual leader, Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi, was banned from entering the UK more than a decade ago due to his infamous views on issues including Jews, homosexuality and non-religious Muslims.

The Western world has also moved to clamp down on the organisation. In November, Donald Trump ordered US government officials to investigate different branches of the Muslim Brotherhood should be listed as terrorist groups. Last year the French government published a report on the Brotherhood’s attempts to infiltrate and subvert democracies, with a growing likelihood that the country will move to severely restrict the organisation this year under its principle of Laïcité – constitutionally mandated state secularism.

Last year, after meeting Emirati officials, Nigel Farage indicated that if Reform UK wins the next general election, he would move to ban the Muslim Brotherhood in this country.