An Islamic State fighter held in Syria has told the BBC he was one of at least seven students and ex-students from University of Westminster to join IS. Zakariyya Elogbani abandoned a degree in business management which he was taking at the university in 2014.
Another student had been studying while on a terror protection order which was made less restrictive by a judge, a BBC investigation has found. University of Westminster says it takes its safeguarding duty "very seriously".
This is not the first time that students at the university have been linked to violent jihadism - the notorious IS killer Mohammed Emwazi, known as Jihadi John, studied there until 2009. The BBC's investigation now exposes the secret funnelling of fighters and funds from the UK to IS in Syria.
Elogbani, who grew up in east London, was captured by Kurdish forces in Syria nine months ago. He said there was a group at University of Westminster who had already left for Syria before he even began his studies.
That may have been a reference to Mohammed Emwazi, who studied information systems at the university and left for Syria in 2013. He became infamous after appearing in videos in which he killed Western hostages. Emwazi died in a missile strike in November 2015.
Elogbani denied knowing him but admitted seeing another of the British kidnap gang, known as The Beatles, in Syria.
Another former University of Westminster student who went to Syria was Akram Sabah, a recruitment consultant who left the university in 2011 with a degree in biomedical sciences. He and his older brother Mohammed were killed in fighting in September 2013.
A University of Westminster spokesperson told the BBC that the university "has a strong pastoral and interfaith focus providing care and support to its community of 20,000 students from more than 150 countries".
