A new HEPI Policy Note reveals striking and contradictory attitudes among today’s students towards free speech on campus.
While support for the principle of free expression has grown stronger over the past decade, a significant minority of students also favour firm limits in practice. Most notably, 35% of full-time undergraduates say Reform UK should be banned from speaking at events held in UK universities – a higher level of support for a political ban than recorded previously for any other group.
Drawing on data collected for HEPI by the polling company Savanta in November 2025 and building on comparable surveys from 2016 and 2022, the findings paint a complex picture. Students overwhelmingly feel able to express their own views, yet almost half believe universities are becoming less tolerant of diverse viewpoints. Support for free speech in the abstract sits alongside rising strong backing for specific restrictions.
These results are explored in detail in Are students still ‘woke’? (HEPI Policy Note 68), written by HEPI Director Nick Hillman. The report examines how student attitudes are evolving, why apparent contradictions exist and what this means for policy, regulation and debate in higher education. Click here to read the press release and find the full report.