Verdant Looks at the Culture of Radicalisation in UK Universities

The Challenge of Strategic Engagement with the Muslim Community in Britain's Higher Education Institutions

News last week that Muslim women in universities around the UK are being radicalised was played down by Muslim student organisations. If Muslim women are being targeted at university it is not surprising, not so much that they are Muslim women but more that this is a life stage of change and potential vulnerability for any student. 

 

There are some common experiences which most students share to a greater or lesser extent depending on their circumstances. University represents a time of huge change for anyone attending and can be a transition stage from childhood through to adulthood. But there are five key factors which make the targeting less surprising.

 

  1. Students find themselves mixing with all sorts of people, and depending on their background or where they are from, they might be learning alongside people from the UK and other countries whose ideas and culture seem completely different from their own.
  2. Students are looking for their place in the world independently from their parents. Self discovery in my day showed itself in the way people dressed. Going ‘Goth’ was the big trend when I was at college (the time needed on make up in the morning put me off), but religion was rarely discussed.
  3. This time of transition is often when people are at their most vulnerable, and the current economic climate is going to introduce more uncertainty. Remember the “Up” series, tracking the lives of a cross section of British children since 1964? I remember the one where they were all 21, they all seemed much more vulnerable, at their most uncertain and even depressed in some cases.
  4. As people are starting to question their place in society more there has been a greater embrace of religion, particularly in conversion, and in the process, people are seeking out like-minded people
  5. The intellectual environment of universities encourages and allows debate which can be exploited.

 

In terms of Muslim women the move to university in some cases may be an even greater change if they have been brought up in a tightly knit Muslim Community with little exposure to non-Muslims. This may become more prevalent over the next few years as students come from families who converted during the last 20 years and have adopted the faith in a stricter way than many existing Muslim families. In terms of conversion, more women are converting than men with an estimated two thirds of all converts being young women. It is now believed that in the UK, 50,000 people in the UK are Muslim converts. All but a very small minority of these are people who contribute to the wonderful multi-cultural society we have in the UK. It is those that are being radicalised though, that we need to worry about.

 

The Government’s Prevent Programme was designed to address this radicalisation. A review from last year, however, year was damning in its criticism and concluded that in some cases activity may have made the situation worse.

 

Some of its recommendations were interesting and highlighted the need for good communications and carefully chosen words.

 

In terms of the specific problems in universities we believe the Prevent programme has its weakness in focussing on the negative aspects, reinforcing myths both around Islam and creating suspicion amongst Muslim communities.  

 

Ideally the starting point for any strategy is to help young people to make positive, confident choices, giving them good research, analysis and decision making skills at school. Earlier levels of education are therefore key - helping children understand, and appreciate, all sorts of other communities and cultures. Organisations such as the SSAT work with schools on community cohesion strategies and leadership.

 

Reinforcing these skills at university - which after all is what higher education is all about - is also important.

 

In terms of communications a deep understanding of those people affected is essential. If we were involved this is what we would do:

 

  1. Review information about how many people are affected and understand the scope of the market
  2. Address the myths and ensure any approach is based on evidence
  3. Review activities to date with clear learning around attitudes and behaviour wherever there is evidence
  4. Employ researchers from the Muslim communities to help effectively identify and target those most vulnerable
  5. Use segmentation and modelling techniques to ensure targeting is effective
  6. Involve Muslim students or those with recent experience to develop ideas
  7. Focus on one-to-one communication, and ensure that there is high awareness of the availability of credible mentoring schemes and existing student services. This will help vulnerable students understand that there is somewhere confidential that they can go to talk
  8. For those discovering or rediscovering their religion there is a role for more female Muslim scholars in teaching women about their religion, and acting as confidantes
  9. And finally, understand the use of language and its impact in these emotive environments. The impact of single words can be huge (we have poured over words for FMCG campaigns so know a bit about this) and the same level of rigour for this kind of initiative is absolutely essential.