The United Arab Emirates has restricted funding for its citizens who want to study at British universities, the latest sign of tensions over the UK’s decision not to proscribe the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood group.
In June, the UAE higher education ministry published a list of global universities for which scholarships would be approved and qualifications certified, as part of reforms that limited funding to the best-performing institutions.
The list included universities in countries including the US, Australia, Israel and France, but not the UK, which is home to many of the world’s top academic institutions.
The exclusion of British universities is linked to anxiety in the UAE over what it sees as the risk of Islamist radicalisation on UK campuses, according to three people familiar with the matter.
When UK officials queried the absence of British institutions on the June list, UAE officials said the omission had not been an “oversight”, according to a person with direct knowledge of the discussions.
“[The UAE] don’t want their kids to be radicalised on campus,” the person added.
In 2023-24, 70 students at UK universities — out of an overall higher education student population of almost 3mn — were reported for possible referral to the government’s Prevent deradicalisation programme showing signs of “Islamist radicalisation”, nearly double the previous year.
UAE Clampdown on Muslim Brotherhood
Since the 2011 popular Arab uprisings, the UAE has imposed a harsh clampdown on domestic Islamist activity and intervened regionally in a bid to limit the role of political Islam.
Under UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Abu Dhabi has also for years questioned the UK’s decision not to proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s administration last year said the matter was under “close review”.
A comprehensive UK government review into the Muslim Brotherhood in 2015 said the group had not been linked to terrorist-related activity in and against Britain.
UK officials said it was unclear how total the ban on scholarships was in practice, saying they were aware of cases of some UAE military personnel still getting scholarships. Some wealthier Emiratis have continued to send their children to study in the UK, paying the fees directly.
But the UAE has also said it would not recognise qualifications from academic institutions that are not on the accredited list, meaning degrees from UK universities have less value for Emiratis.
