A new report has claimed that extremist organisations and terror groups are operating in universities across the UK. Education secretary Ruth Kelly earlier told universities to clamp down on student extremists in the wake of the London terror attacks. But a report due to be published next week claims more than 30 institutions across the country have had "extremist and/or terror groups" detected in them, according to The Guardian. The institutions include Oxford and Cambridge Universities and the London School of Economics (LSE).Anthony Glees, the director of Brunel University's centre for intelligence and security studies and author of the report, told the paper: "This is a serious threat. We have discovered a number of universities where subversive activities are taking place, often without the knowledge of the university authorities." The report says the Islamist groups Hizb ut-Tahrir and al-Muhajiroun (which was thought to have disbanded) are active at several universities despite being subject to a "no-platform policy" by the National Union of Students.
The BNP was found to be active at Cambridge University, animal rights extremists at Oxford, and Islamic extremist groups at the LSE and Manchester University. Ms Kelly said that vice-chancellors must inform the police when they suspect students or staff of engaging in "unacceptable behaviour". University leaders expressed concern over being asked to "police" their students but accepted that the terrorist threat could not be ignored.
| University "leaders" used to be expected to be "in charge" of their institutions... |