Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to prevent higher education institutions from targeted influence from hostile states.

Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.

This government is committed to ensuring our world-leading universities remain free from foreign interference. There are a set of measures that protect against undue foreign interference in our universities. These range from the Academic Technology Approval Scheme, which vets students and researchers seeking to study in sensitive areas, to the provisions of the Higher Education Freedom of Speech Act 2023, which includes the implementation of a new complaints scheme which will offer a new focused route for concerns regarding foreign interference in academic freedom and free speech to be raised.

The government offers practical advice to support the sector to engage with international partnerships in transparent and secure ways. The Research Collaboration and Advice Team, the National Protective Security Authority, the National Cyber Security Centre, and guidance published by Universities UK all support the sector to manage the security-related risks of internationalisation.

The government is currently working at pace on the implementation of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, which will apply to universities across the UK, and will require registration of foreign directed activity involving specific governments and entities where it is necessary to protect the safety or interests of the UK. We expect the scheme to commence in summer 2025.

Finally, the government is conducting an internal review, informed by engagement with the regulator, sector, academics impacted by foreign interference, as well as international partners, to assess existing approaches to managing the risk of foreign interference and what more support they might need.