United Arab Emirates cuts state funding for citizens studying in U.K. over fears of Muslim Brotherhood on campuses
The United Arab Emirates has removed state funding for citizens who want to study in the United Kingdom over fears of campus Islamist radicalization there driven by the Muslim Brotherhood.
The move to formally exclude British universities from eligibility for state-funded UAE scholarship programs appears to date to last summer, and it had been informally implemented even before that, but it has come to light now after British officials inquired about the absence of any British institutions on the list of schools approved for UAE scholarship programs.
The Financial Times newspaper quoted an anonymous source who said UAE officials made clear to Britain that the decision was deliberate because people there “don’t want their kids to be radicalised on campus.”
The UAE’s list of approved schools has several top schools in Europe, the United States, and elsewhere, but none of Britain’s elite universities such as Oxford or Cambridge, and none of its larger modern campuses like the University of Manchester, or the various schools in London that attract many of the U.K.’s foreign student population.
The absence of those schools from the UAE’s approved list also means credentials from them are unrecognized and of lesser value in the UAE employment market.
Approximately 8,500 Emirati students were studying in Britain in 2024, the last year for which numbers are available.
Many Emirati students study in Europe and are funded by generous state backing to do so, with their tuition, board, travel and insurance covered for study in several prioritized academic areas.
The move to exclude Britain is part of a wider spoiling of relations between the U.K. and the Gulf state, though until now most of the conflict was over commercial interests such as the attempted purchase of The Daily Telegraph newspaper and the financial problems with the Manchester United football club.
It also reflects growing concern, both in Britain and abroad, about Islamist radicalism at British universities.
The UAE is a leading diplomatic voice in this debate. Since the Arab Spring uprising across the Muslim world in 2011, the UAE has moved vigorously to curb the influence of political Islamist groups, especially the Muslim Brotherhood.
The Muslim Brotherhood was a driving force of the Arab Spring in Egypt where it gained its strongest ever influence, which has since waned. It is a Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt almost a century ago.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance posted about this news on social media, saying, “Some of our best Muslim allies in the Gulf think the Islamist indoctrination in certain parts of the west is too dangerous.”
Britain has declined to list the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group, although Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said it is under review.
This potential British listing has become a political hot issue, with surging Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage vowing to ban the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes prime minister.
Canada also does not include the Muslim Brotherhood on its list of proscribed entities, although Canada’s listing that bans the terror group Hamas notes that it “emerged from the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1987.”
The UAE bans the Muslim Brotherhood as a proscribed organization, which puts it in the small minority of countries that do so. The UAE has also strongly advocated for other countries, including Britain and France, to ban the group, saying it is the source of rapidly spreading extremism across Europe and elsewhere.
Canada is a popular destination for students from the UAE, although Canada has recently drastically cut the number of foreign students it accepts under annual caps.
The Financial Times also reported that British officials do not regard the ban as total, as there remain some UAE military personnel on scholarships.
It is also not a ban on Emirati students going to Britain for school, as many whose families wish to fund it themselves continue to study there.
The UAE did not comment on the FT’s report, and the British Prime Minister’s officer issued a statement saying: “All forms of extremism have absolutely no place in our society, and we will stamp them out wherever they are found. We offer one of the best education systems in the world and maintain stringent measures on student welfare and on campus safety.”
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