Loans debate spotlights Muslim students’ ‘need for alternative’

Providing alternative student finance would benefit more than just religious students and give a £450 million boost to the UK’s economy, according to an Islamic thinktank.

Equi, which conducts “ethically driven research on UK issues”, suggests the country is missing out on a substantial economic premium per student cohort, by failing to provide “faith-compliant”, interest-free student loans.

It has previously been estimated that some 6,000 students a year forgo attending university out of concerns relating to the current funding set-up that requires students to take on debt with interest to pay for tuition and living costs.

If these students did enrol, it could result in a £450 million associated economic premium, according to Equi’s Have Faith in Higher Education report, released on 21 October.

The British Muslim community has long questioned the legitimacy of loans that accrue interest, which some believe is against sharia (Islamic law).

In recent years the British Board of Scholars and Imams has sought to reassure loan applicants that payment obligations under the student loans contract are more similar to a graduate tax than a “traditional debt”.

Equi’s report, which is based on polling of more than 1,300 students in higher and further education and 30 original interviews, finds that to “overcome financial barriers to higher education and avoid the consequent damages to the domestic economy, the government should take the opportunity to introduce [alternative student finance] for all”.

Mary Hunter, director of research at Equi, told THE that “across the board…the interest-based system doesn’t seem to be working for young people”.

“The whole student loan issue has come under the spotlight a lot recently, just because of the issue of how students are obviously paying a significant amount back but the interest means that for some [the sum owed is] actually still getting bigger and bigger,” she said.

The recommendation is one of Equi’s major asks, which also include a call for universities and colleges to be required to allocate “proportionate space” for religious students to practise their beliefs.

According to the report, the Office for Students (OfS) ought to require institutions to disclose their faith-based space provision via Access and Participation Plan reporting, and introduce a minimum standard, proportionate to the size of the student faith population.

It also recommends that the Department for Education establish an Interfaith Engagement Fund, to be distributed via the OfS.

Equi’s polling found that more than half (52 per cent) of students feel faith is “important to them”, while 49 per cent said they believe faith helps bring people of different backgrounds together.

Despite this, less than a quarter (24 per cent) of students believe that their institution does its best to attract candidates belonging to a religious group.

When it comes to religious support on campuses, in the course of interviews with people working in equity, diversity and inclusion, as well as others, Hunter said the team found that some university staff members “believe that funding for chaplaincies and interfaith work have decreased over the years”.

“That might be in part due to the belief that faith is decreasing [across society], whereas obviously what we wanted to highlight is that it remains significant for over half of the student population,” she said.

Hunter said Equi hoped to see university chaplains “brought on to an equal level with other members of staff”, suggesting that they provided an important pastoral benefit for “people of all faiths and none”.

“Faith literacy should take account of each stage in the higher education journey,” she said. “From access to higher education experiences to post-education employment as well.”

georgia.luckhurst@timeshighereducation.com