Far-right radicalisation threat ‘only going to get worse’

Changes to how universities are expected to comply with the government’s counter-terrorism efforts will be revealed next month, as institutions grapple with a growing threat from right-wing extremism alongside other forms of radicalisation. 

The Office for Students (OfS) is expected to share further details on its updates to the Prevent monitoring framework in July, after figures released last week revealed that referrals to the counter-terrorism scheme from within universities increased by nearly 50 per cent last year.

The latest OfS data also revealed that the number of cases linked to right-wing radicalisation reached the highest level ever, with 45 cases escalated to the Prevent lead in 2024-25, compared with 30 instances reported in 2023-24.

Even though referrals linked to right-wing radicalisation remain low overall, Nigel Copsey, a Teesside University academic specialising in histories of fascism and anti-fascism, said Prevent monitoring was a blunt tool when it came to registering an increasingly “diffuse” and pervasive group of ideologies.

“Right-wing extremism on UK campuses is numerically tiny,” Copsey said. “The Prevent figures are vanishingly small – roughly one case per 60,000 students.

“But this is false reassurance because it only captures the most obvious cases. The problem is that this space is getting more diffuse, harder to see and harder to define.”

Copsey continued: “Far-right ideas have become increasingly normalised and embedded in the mainstream; extreme-right movements have shifted from formal organisations to looser online networks and there is an unstable and fluid process of ideological hybridisation going on, which blurs the boundaries between traditional far-right extremism and elements of misogyny, conspiracy and anti-establishment populism.”

Copsey said institutions needed to be realistic and acknowledged that there is “only so much that can be done” to prevent rising extremism of this form.

But he added: “Prevent demands clear ideological boundaries [but] the problem is that boundaries are breaking down. Universities are struggling to keep pace.”

Ashton Kingdon, lecturer in criminology at the University of Southampton, agreed that there was an evolving problem of extremist right-wing ideologies developing on campuses.

“It’s a problem that’s only going to keep growing and going to get worse, and universities need to think about how they’re going to handle it,” she said.

“This year is the first year...I’ve had students come up to me and tell me they consider themselves far right or incels.”

Kingdon attributed the rise to “internet culture”, citing the example of influential shock jock and misogynist Andrew Tate.

In March, the OfS wrote to Prevent leaders at universities and higher education providers promising that plans to fortify the Prevent duty framework in England were on their way.

Intended changes include making the reporting process “easier and more user-friendly” and a promised update to the definition of what counts as a “serious incident” under Prevent.

In addition, the OfS has pledged to “use Prevent review meetings to target areas of concern more strategically” and to “proactively gather more detailed evidence on compliance with the duty where necessary”.

It is now understood that further details of those plans will be delivered via briefings for Prevent programme leaders at universities and further education colleges early next month.

Briefings will take place prior to the official publication of an updated monitoring framework, although no date has yet been set for its release.

The Home Office will also continue working with students to co-design a Campus Cohesion Charter setting clearer expectations around conduct and shared values.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “The UK has one of the most robust counter-terrorism frameworks in the world, and we continue to strengthen these to reflect the evolving nature of the threat.

“Prevent plays a vital role in stopping people from becoming terrorists and has diverted close to 6,000 people away from violent ideologies, as well as helping educational settings safeguard their learners from extremism and radicalisation.”

georgia.luckhurst@timeshighereducation.com