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New Delhi: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) moved to restrict state funding for its citizens who choose to study in UK Universities. The reason given for this is that the country feels that their students would get radicalised by the Muslim Brotherhood Movement, which is increasingly becoming popular on several college campuses in Britain.
The move by the UAE comes after the UK refused to ban the Muslim Brotherhood, which the UAE and many other Muslim countries have designated as a terrorist organisation.
The education fund was cut last year in June itself, but it became known only now as it was reported widely by 2 British dailies - The Financial Times and The Times last week. The report was published after the UAE Ministry of Higher Education released a revised list of overseas universities eligible for government scholarships and official degree certification.
This list released by the UAE government had names of universities from US, Australia, FRance and Israel, the names of UK Universities were excluded. When officials from the UK questioned the UAE about the exclusion, they were told that this had not been done mistakenly, but was intentional. The exclusion happened despite the fact that UK is home to some of the world's top Universities and had been a preferred destination for the students from UAE.
In response Britain highlighted the need for academic freedom.
Though the UAE has repeatedly pushed the UK to ban Muslim Brotherhood, the UK has refused to do it. In fact in 2015, the David Cameron government ordered a comprehensive review about the organisation, which the Middle Eastern country wanted banned. The conclusion that the review committee drew was that Muslim Brotherhood's beliefs were at odds with the British values, but they were not linked to any terrorist activities in the UK.
The UAE meanwhile, has viewed Muslim Brotherhood as a threat. They say that increasing activities of this group on college campuses might pose a risk of Islamist influence on young people from the country.
This issue gained further prominence after increased political activity on campuses, following the Israel-Hamas war and the attack on Israel on October 7,2023. The UAE meanwhile wants the group banned due to the wider impact they might have on its domestic and regional policies and position. The country sees the Muslim Brotherhood as a serious threat to its autocratic yet relatively secular political system.
Dozens of suspected Muslim Brotherhood members and supporters have been jailed and the country supported the removal of Egypt's President Mohamed Morsi in 2013, by the military. Morsi was seen as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. They have even supported groups in Libya and Sudan, who it believes oppose the Brotherhood movement.
The Muslim Brotherhood is a Sunni Islamist organisation, which was founded in 1928 in Egypt. Hassan al-Banna, a schoolteacher and Islamic scholar is credited with founding this organisation. This organisation emerged in response to the collapse of the Caliphate, Western Colonialism and aimed at reviving Muslim society by making them follow the Quran in earnest and also apply the Hadith to daily life.
They view Islam as a complete system and favour a 'Sharia' governed society. They say that reforms in society must be driven by education, charity and political participation.
