Report: Iranians study nuclear physics in UK
Sunday Times reports about 60 Iranian students have been admitted to British universities to study postgraduate courses deemed 'proliferation-sensitive' by security services
About 60 Iranian students have been admitted to British universities to study postgraduate courses deemed “proliferation-sensitive” by the British security services over the past nine months, The Sunday Times reported.
The disciplines range from nuclear physics to some areas of electrical and chemical engineering and microbiology.
According to the report, the British Foreign Office has cleared dozens of Iranians to enter British universities to study advanced nuclear physics and other subjects with the potential to be applied to weapons of mass destruction.
Figures obtained by David Willetts, the shadow secretary for innovation, universities and skills, show that in 2005-06, 30 Iranians were doing postgraduate degrees in subjects covering nuclear physics and nuclear engineering.
Willetts told the Sunday Times, “Given that we need to have tougher sanctions against Iran, it does seem extraordinary that the government is not yet stopping Iranians coming here to study nuclear physics. There is legitimate concern about what some students have been studying.”
When confronted with the figures over the weekend, the Foreign Office admitted that it was reviewing the vetting for sensitive areas of study and planned to announce an overhaul within the next few weeks to make procedures more rigorous.
A Foreign Office spokesman told The Sunday Times, “We are rigorously checking people at the moment and we are planning an even more rigorous system.”
Universities to inform gov't on sensitive subjects
According to the report, subject areas covered by the government’s vetting overhaul include some types of metallurgy, molecular biology, chemistry and nuclear science.
Currently, vetting is done only when a university voluntarily informs the government that a candidate from outside the EU has been offered a place to study a sensitive subject.
Under the new online system overseen by the security services, The Sunday Times reported, universities will be obliged to inform the government if any non-European intends to take a course in such subjects. They will also be required to give details about what is included in the course.
Before they can even begin a visa application, students will then be security vetted.
Academic background and country of origin will be checked as well as who is paying for the student’s course – to discover, for example, whether they are being sponsored by an unfriendly government such as Iran’s.
Britain announced last week that it supported the US decision to impose further sanctions on Iran and called on the United Nations to impose a third round of sanctions on the Tehran government.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that he believed sanctions against Iran would solve the problem.
