The number of university students flagged under the government’s Prevent counter-extremism programme has increased by 50% over two years, with “mixed, unclear or unstable” (MUU) ideologies showing the most significant rise, according to new data.

The latest Prevent monitoring report, released by the Office for Students, the higher education regulator for England, reveals that students identified with MUU extremist ideologies now represent the largest category.

MUU describes individuals who display elements from multiple ideologies, such as men’s rights, incels, or conspiracy theories, or those without a coherent ideology but still vulnerable to terrorism.

In 2022-23, 210 Prevent cases were escalated in the higher education sector, compared to 165 in 2021-22 and 139 in 2020-21. The closure of campuses due to the Covid pandemic during this period may partly explain the lower figures.

Patrik Hermansson, senior researcher at Hope Not Hate, a group campaigning against racism and fascism, said: “The rise in university referrals is concerning and reflects increased interest in extremist ideologies among young people in the UK.

“It is difficult to analyze the MUU numbers in detail as it is a broad and poorly defined category,” Hermansson added.

“However, the category includes individuals with extreme views on single issues, such as misogyny, which do not fit neatly into specific ideologies, and more esoteric and hard-to-define worldviews like the Order of Nine Angles (a Nazi satanist organization) and conspiracism.”

While alleged Islamist and extreme right-wing radicalization cases have slightly increased over the past year, MUU extremism cases have almost doubled in two years.

Ninety-five MUU cases were escalated to institutional Prevent lead officers in 2022-23, compared to 50 in 2020-21, and 55 of these cases were so concerning that external Prevent advice was sought. In 2020-21, this figure was 31.

Two years ago, 13 MUU extremism cases resulted in formal Prevent referrals. Data for the 2022-23 academic year shows this number jumped to 30. The numbers may be relatively small, but the trend is clear.

Cases of suspected Islamist and extreme right-wing radicalization also increased slightly last year, with suspected Islamist radicalization cases rising from 35 in 2021-22 to 40, and suspected extreme right radicalization cases increasing from 30 to 35.

The most recent data covers the 2022-23 academic year and does not include the period following the Hamas attack on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza. However, it does cover external campus speakers, showing that less than 1% were rejected in 2022-23, mostly for procedural reasons.