New data from the Office for Students (OfS) finds that, while the number of individual potential radicalisation cases managed by institutions overall has declined slightly, formal referrals to Prevent have increased by nearly 50 per cent.
Universities and colleges return this data to the OfS as part of their compliance with the Prevent duty. This includes information about their management of individual potential radicalisation cases and any underpinning ideology for each case. ‘Mixed, unclear and unstable ideologies’ accounted for the highest number of cases that were escalated within an institution (100), followed by ‘other’ (55), ‘Islamist’ (50), and ‘extreme right-wing’ (45).
Of these cases, 95 were formally referred to Prevent, representing a 46 per cent increase compared with the 65 formal referrals in 2024-25. ‘Mixed, unclear and unstable ideologies’ accounted for the highest number of formal referrals (45), followed by ‘other’ and ‘extreme right-wing’ (both 20), and ‘Islamist’ (15).
The data also shows the number of events or external speakers approved by universities and colleges increased slightly from 42,440 in 2023-24 to 42,475 in 2024-25. The number of events or external speakers approved with conditions due to a Prevent-related risk decreased from 30 in 2023-24 to 15 in 2024-25.
These conditions include measures such as putting increased security in place, requiring tickets for attendance, and ensuring discussions are led by a chair. Conditions were placed on 1,400 external speakers and events in 2024-25 for non-Prevent reasons, which is comparable with figures for 2023-24.
Deputy Director of Enabling Regulation at the OfS, David Smy, said:
‘The data we’ve published today gives an overview of the important work universities and colleges are doing in relation to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism. This is vital to protect students and staff, including those at risk of being radicalised. As we set out earlier this year, we are updating and strengthening our monitoring framework. Alongside this, we are making the reporting process more user-friendly.
‘It’s also important that institutions meet their duty to take steps to secure freedom of speech for staff, students, and visiting speakers. Our findings show that the vast majority of events went ahead last year, which is an encouraging sign that institutions recognise the value of robust debate. We also note that
‘There are limitations to this data. It doesn’t tell us, for example, if a member of staff or student has voluntarily withdrawn a request to invite a controversial speaker or has decided against putting on an event because they felt unable to do so securely.
‘All staff and students are entitled to teach, learn and research in a culture that values the pursuit of new ideas and champions free speech within the law – even if that speech is contentious. Many institutions are doing good work to make sure that happens. Where it doesn’t, our new free speech complaints scheme should give staff and visiting speakers the confidence to raise concerns about institutions that may be failing to protect freedom of speech.'
Notes
- The OfS monitors what higher education providers do to prevent people being drawn into terrorism. Read about the OfS’s role in monitoring the Prevent duty.
- Figures are rounded to the nearest five. As a result, subtotals and totals may not sum exactly.
- Read our letter to Prevent leads at relevant higher education bodies, which summarises the changes we plan to make to our Prevent monitoring framework.