ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the ways in which universities translate the Prevent duty into information technology-related higher education policies and practices. It provides the different approaches to web filtering and monitoring, the relationship between universities and intelligence agencies and the way in which information gathering on students’ online activity has changed under Prevent. The decision to oblige universities legally to assume a role in the government’s Prevent agenda can be traced back to some arguments that identify the security risks pervasive in the sphere of higher education. Academics have argued that the incorporation of the higher education sector into the Prevent legislation has led to universities being ‘drawn into the security apparatus of the state’. The chapter also explores how universities respond to the securitization of education, and discusses the extent to which universities’ engagement with the objectives of the Prevent policy inform the relationship between academia and intelligence services.
