The United Arab Emirates has reportedly decided to exclude British universities from a significant study abroad funding program due to worries about the potential influence of the Muslim Brotherhood on radicalized campuses in the UK.
Nigel Farage, leader of Reform UK, has stated that the UAE is restricting young Emiratis from attending British universities out of concerns regarding extremism, noting, “Respectable Muslim countries cannot believe how vulnerable Britain is to extremists.” The UAE has updated its list of approved international universities eligible for its funding scheme, and British institutions, despite being some of the top-ranked globally, are now absent from that list.
Top-performing students studying abroad with the Emirates will have their tuition, flights, living costs, and health insurance covered, as long as they enroll in programs deemed beneficial by the government. Historically, the UK has been a favored destination for UAE students.
According to reports, the UK government, aware of this shift, reached out to the UAE for clarification and learned that the decision was intentional rather than an oversight.
The UAE highlighted concerns about the Muslim Brotherhood’s influence on British campuses as the primary reason for this exclusion. The group has been labeled a “hotbed of Sunni Islamic terrorism” and is officially designated as a terrorist organization by the relatively progressive UAE.
In 2025, the French government leaked a significant internal report on the Muslim Brotherhood, revealing that the group had been infiltrating organizations and immigrant communities in Europe for decades in an effort to undermine the West. Both the UK and France have contemplated banning the Brotherhood over the years but have yet to proceed with any action. Farage, a proponent of Brexit, has indicated he would support such a ban if he were elected, though some have suggested his stance is influenced by the UAE.
Farage’s candidate for London mayor, Laila Cunningham, who has Egyptian heritage and identifies as Muslim, shared her concerns about the Brotherhood’s influence in England. She remarked, “The Muslim Brotherhood is outlawed across the Middle East because they know exactly what it is: the ideological backbone of Islamist terrorism.”
She continued, expressing frustration, “Yet Britain is allowing free movement and even granting asylum to a convicted bomb maker. We are sitting ducks. This is a rebellion against the British people.”
