In January 2008, DIUS launched revised guidance for universities on how to make their campuses places that are resilient to those who advocate or undertake acts of violence.
Launch date: 11 February 2008
Closing date: 6 May 2008
Date of response: 18 February 2009
Consultation
Further Education (FE) colleges also need to consider their role. We consulted on this from February to May, in partnership with the Association of Colleges (AoC) and on the support FE providers need to take this on.
Bill Rammell (the then Minister of State for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education) gave a keynote address at a conference on 16 June on How Colleges can Promote Community Cohesion. He acknowledged the many ways that colleges do promote community cohesion, but focused in particular on their role in fostering shared values, and shared the broad nature of how we will take this work forward following the consultation.
In response to the consultation, Bill Rammell announced that we would therefore be taking forward a number of actions over the coming months, in partnership with a new Champion Principals network we have established:
- we will issue revised guidance to the sector, which will reiterate many of the principles and points made in the consultation but with a sharper focus on preventing violent extremism, signposting the tools and resources available to the sector to help tackle this issue
- we will work with the new Learning and Skills Improvement Service (the new agency that will support improvement in the FE sector) to identify how it can support this agenda
- we are also working with our colleagues in other Government Departments, including DCSF to ensure that a coordinated package of resources and support is developed and made available that reinforces the need for partnership working, while addressing the particular circumstances and opportunities faced by different institutions, including colleges
Next Steps and Learning to be Safe
On 18 February, we published two documents on the role that colleges can play in preventing violent extremism:
- a next steps document describing how we are taking this work forward following the consultation in 2008
- a prevention toolkit (Learning Together to be Safe) with practical advice for colleges.
See the 'FE guidance' section to find out more.
Contact details
If your enquiry is related to the policy content of the consultation you can contact Nick Rousseau on:
Tel: 0114 259 4285
Email: College.Cohesion@dius.gsi.gov.uk
