Emerging from the ‘Re/presenting Islam on campus’ research project, this report into Muslims at universities in the UK offers the first cross-sector examination of how Muslims on UK campuses are viewed, treated and subjected to processes of inclusion and exclusion.
The report – a collaboration between SOAS University of London, Durham University, Coventry University and Lancaster University – also examines how Muslims themselves view life on UK campuses. It focuses on their experiences of university and on how they are viewed by non-Muslim students.
Released in July 2020, the report was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council 2015-2018.
Overall, the research revealed “much harmony and good practice, some excellent Islamic Studies teaching and warm, sincere interfaith initiatives”.
However, the report also highlights that Prevent has worrying implications for Muslims at universities, with the status of Islam within the UK’s universities being “framed not just by the experiences of Muslims themselves, but also by the ways in which Muslims are perceived and treated by their peers”.
The report found “a great deal of misinformation and misunderstanding …[and that] in an age of ‘post-truth’, ‘fake news’ and an increasing dependence on social media as an arena for political engagement, the risks of misrepresentation are arguably more serious than ever before”.
The full report is available HERE.
Related Resources
- Islam on Campus: Contested Identities and the Cultures of Higher Education in Britain (Journal article, 2020).
- Islamophobia on Campus based on the Muslim Students Survey (Report, 2017)
