Home Secretary Theresa May said universities had been unwilling to recognise what was happening on campus Home Secretary Theresa May has criticised universities for their “complacency” in tackling Islamist extremism.
It comes ahead of the publication of the government’s revised Prevent counter-terrorism strategy on Tuesday.
Mrs May told the Daily Telegraph she thought there was more universities could do on the issue.
She also said the government would cut funding to any Islamic group that espoused extremist views.
Mrs May told the paper: “I think for too long there’s been complacency around universities. I don’t think they have been sufficiently willing to recognise what can be happening on their campuses and the radicalisation that can take place.
“I think there is more that universities can do.”
It is understood the document also raises concerns over the Federation of Student Islamic Societies and what is seen as an insufficient willingness to tackle extremism.
Mrs May said: “They need to be prepared to stand up and say that organisations that are extreme or support extremism or have extremist speakers should not be part of their grouping.”
Prevent was originally launched after the 7 July bombings in 2007 to stop the growth of home-grown terrorism.
Mrs May said that, as a result of the strategy’s review of government support, about 20 of the organisations that received funding over the past three years would have their cash withdrawn.
She told the newspaper: “There’s more that we will be doing because it is very clear that we are going to be much more focused on effective monitoring and the effectiveness of groups and making sure that they are having an outcome.”
BBC home affairs correspondent Danny Shaw says Prime Minister David Cameron signalled a change in the government’s approach to tackling Islamist extremism in a speech he gave in Munich in February.
In it he said there needed to be a “lot less” of the “passive tolerance” of recent years.
Extremist groups, Mr Cameron said, must be stopped from reaching people in publicly-funded institutions, such as universities.
Last month, the ll-Party parliamentary group on homeland security said it had “grave concerns” students were being radicalised in universities, but the body which represents vice-chancellors, Universities UK, denied the claims.
A Home Office spokesman said: “The government is currently reviewing the Prevent programme, which isn’t working as well as it could.
“We need a strategy that is effective and properly focused. The findings will be published shortly.”
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