A Disproportionate Response: Five Years of the Prevent Duty in UKHE

Abstract

The Desecuritising Higher Education Project was a research project hosted at
Birmingham City University and funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable
Trust which ran between October 2018 and December 2020. The project sought
to investigate the Prevent Duty within UK Higher Education and examine the
attitudes and experiences of those impacted by it. In this report, we provide an
overview of our findings, key of which were the following:
1. On websites and in policies, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have
demonstrated their compliance with the Prevent Duty and reassured
audiences about its purpose.
2. However, there were instances of HEIs being far more sceptical towards the
Prevent Duty, demonstrating reluctant compliance or resisting elements
of the law.
3.The Prevent Duty has introduced extra layers of responsibility that have
expanded bureaucratic processes and increased managerial oversight.
4. Training was a prominent aspect of compliance with the Prevent Duty and
was delivered extensively, in a range of different formats, and targeted to
various audiences.
5. Despite the arrival of the Prevent Duty, referrals to Channel within HEIs in
England and Wales remain minimal.
6. HEIs did not always disclose information in reply to FOIs because doing so
was thought to risk national security or impede the prevention or detection
of crime.
7. Staff were divided on the place of the Prevent Duty in UK Higher Education
(UKHE) and its framing as safeguarding.
8. Both staff and students shared a scepticism about the ease and
practicality of identifying the signs of vulnerability to radicalisation.
9. Both staff and students raised concerns about the possible negative effects
of the Prevent Duty, including issues relating to the learning environment,
freedom of expression, surveillance of populations and trust between
students and staff.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Keith Spiller: orcid.org/0000-0002-5796-8165

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