Recently in Education Category

Reproduced below is my latest blog for Standpoint:

The Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE) has been the subject of much scrutiny since Andrew Gilligan's investigation into them revealed that the group was using effective entryist tactics to infiltrate and influence local politics in East London. Local MP Jim Fitzpatrick even went so far as to say that the IFE was "trying to get individuals selected and elected" so that they could eventually achieve their goal of establishing an "Islamic social and political order" in Britain.  The IFE and its parent organisation the East London Mosque (ELM), have since been protesting against accusations of extremism.  Despite this, senior IFE member, Azad Ali, wrote a blog yesterday in which he suggested an ideological affinity between his group and Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT).

Reproduced below is my latest blog for Conservative Home.

The University of Durham last year entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Iranian government's Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. The cosy arrangement saw the two promise to publish joint books, hold joint conferences, undertake joint research and exchange students and members of staff. In return, the Iranian government paid Durham £10,000. Worth the price of aligning yourself with probably the most obnoxious government in the world?

The CSC has just issued a press release exposing the extremist speakers that have been invited to by UCL Islamic societies in the past few years.

Campus radicalisation is a serious problem, and one that all university chancellors should begin to take seriously. Last year, the CSC published Islam on Campus, the most comprehensive survey ever undertaken of Muslim student opinion in the UK. It can be downloaded here.
 

In light of the discovery that Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, the alleged terrorist behind the failed attempt to bomb an aircraft over Detroit, was head of the UCL ISOC between 2006-07, campus radicalisation is once again in the news.

The following was written for the Hudson Institute, a US think tank, by Douglas Murray, Director of the Centre for Social Cohesion, and Robin Simcox, Research Fellow at the CSC and author of 'A Degree of Influence'.

The Iranian government has revealed that it is in talks with British Islamic studies departments to "train and educate experts on Islam". The UK government has subsequently announced these Islamic studies centres are part of its counter-terrorism strategy. The most charitable spin you could put on this is that the government is unaware of whom exactly is funding the centres that they hope are a barrier to stopping radicalisation.

UK universities are in trouble. A Degree of Influence, a new report from the Centre for Social Cohesion, shows that universities are now so impoverished that they are reliant on cash from theocracies and dictatorships to fund whole departments or institutes.

Government plans to teach basic sex education to primary school children in a bid to tackle teenage pregnancies and sexually-transmitted diseases have come under fire from a conservative Christian group.

National director of Christian Voice, Stephen Green, said that teaching young children about sex is "a wickedness" from a government that wants to see "a whole generation fornicating." He said the proposals would sexualise young children and only "encourage experimentation".

A new study has found that 'institutional racism' by teachers towards black Caribbean students in secondary schools can significantly undermine their chances of academic success.

There is evidence to suggest teachers routinely under-estimate the abilities of some black pupils based on assumptions of behavioural problems, such as confrontational attitudes, which overshadows the student's real academic talent, leaving teachers to expect students to under-achieve.