The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has restricted government funding for its citizens wishing to study at British universities, according to a report by the Financial Times. In June, the UAE’s higher education ministry published a list of global universities for which scholarships would be approved and qualifications certified, as part of reforms limiting funding to top-performing institutions. The list included universities in the US, Australia, Israel and France, but excluded the UK, home to many of the world’s leading academic institutions. The exclusion is linked to UAE concerns over what it perceives as the risk of Islamist radicalisation on UK campuses, according to three people familiar with the matter cited by the FT. When UK officials queried the absence of British institutions from the June list, UAE officials said the omission had not been an “oversight”, according to a person with direct knowledge of the discussions quoted by the newspaper. “[The UAE] don’t want their kids to be radicalised on campus,” the person told the FT. In response, UK officials emphasised the importance of academic freedom, the person said. In 2023-24, 70 students at UK universities were reported for possible referral to the government’s Prevent deradicalisation programme showing signs of […]