Colleges help Promote Community Cohesion and Prevent Extremism

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Published: 13 February 2008

Colleges help Promote Community Cohesion and Prevent Extremism

Bill Rammell, Minister for Further and Higher Education has announced that Colleges have a responsibility to foster our shared values and protect their students and staff from those who wish to intimidate and promote violence.

The proposals are part of a consultation on the role of Further Education (FE) colleges in promoting community cohesion, fostering shared values and preventing violent extremism. The FE consultation mirrors the updated guidance issued to Higher Education institutions last month.

The Government's assessment is that the biggest current threat the UK faces is from Al Qa'ida-influenced terrorism. Its judgment is that the threat in FE Colleges is serious but not widespread.

Government has been working with the Association of Colleges to develop the consultation which will lead to the first guidance to colleges on tackling extremism and promoting community cohesion.

The Further Education sector faces its own unique issues & challenges in fostering community cohesion, promoting our shared values and tackling violent extremism.

FE intuitions are often at the heart of local communities and serve students diverse in terms of age and background.

This is the first time Government has made proposals on these issues and wishes to work closely with the FE sector in considering how best colleges can be supported to work towards a common understanding of their role.

Bill Rammell, Minister for Further and Higher Education, said:

"Our shared values which bind communities together belong to everyone in Britain; they are not possessed by any one race, creed or nationality.

The Further Education sector's task is to foster these values in their institutions. Colleges have a unique role to play in fostering our shared values of openness, free debate and tolerance.

Many colleges already play an important role in their communities and are ideally placed to expand their work into reinforcing shared values and protecting their students and staff from those who would seek to exploit the freedom we all benefit from in this country to promote violence or incite racial hatred."

Sue Dutton, Acting Chief Executive, Association of Colleges, said:

"Organisations such as colleges, schools and universities have a duty to their students and to society at large to promote community cohesion.

These proposals contribute to continuing college efforts to take all appropriate action for fostering shared community values, including dealing with extremism in any form."

The consultation highlights five key areas, offering practical advice and issues for staff & students to consider:

· Promoting and reinforcing shared values: creating space for free & open debate; and listening to & supporting mainstream voices

· Breaking down segregation among different student communities: supporting inter-faith and inter-cultural dialogue and engaging all students in playing a full & active role in wider engagement with society

· Ensuring student safety and that campuses are free from bullying, harassment and intimidation

· Providing support to vulnerable students and offering appropriate advice, guidance and sources of support to all staff and students

· Ensuring staff and students are aware of their roles in preventing violent extremism

The consultation will close on 6 May 2008.

Further information

Consultation: 'The role of further education providers in promoting community cohesion, fostering shared values and preventing violent extremism: consultation document'

Reply online

Community Cohesion Consultation Events

Updated guidance to Higher Education institutions

Q&A: Campus extremism - the new guidance - EducationGuardian.co.uk

Bill Rammell’s lecture on Academic Freedom at the Fabian Society on 27 November 2007

Association of Colleges