Speakers with offensive views should be banned from giving talks at universities, most students believe.

Almost three quarters of students support the National Union of Students’ (NUS) ‘No Platform’ policy which prohibits those on a list put together by the union from speaking at universities, a survey has revealed.

Of those polled, 27 per cent said they believe UKIP should be banned from university stages.

Half think that universities should sometimes or always tear down memorials dedicated to controversial historical figures.

Speakers with offensive views should be banned from giving talks at universities, most students believe (file photo)

The survey, aimed to reveal what students really think about free speech on campus, was carried out by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HIPI).

Of the findings, the report’s author and former ministerial adviser Nick Hillman said: ‘These are inherently complicated issues but the pendulum may have swung too far away from favouring free speech.’

For the research, 1,000 undergraduates were polled on their views towards freedom of expression.

Writer Naomi Wolf branded the attitudes displayed in the report ‘catastrophic’.

She told The Sunday Times that the figures illustrated a ‘terrifying trend, especially in British universities which for 800 years have served as lights of freedom and thought in various past times of suppression’.

Historian Amanda Foreman told the newspaper that the findings were ‘sad’ adding that students were ‘fighting for the right to close their minds against new ideas’.

The research revealed that 68 per cent of those polled believe that lecturers should warn them before teaching ‘difficult issues’ in case they choose to leave the hall.

Many also agree with censorship of the Press with 38 per cent supporting a ban on a sale of tabloid newspapers in university shops.

Contradicting this, 60 per cent state that universities should never limit free speech.

Despite their opposition to controversial figures gracing university stages, 83 per cent said they felt able to express their views openly.

Students protestng last year for the removal of the statue of Cecil Rhodes which is in the front of Oriel College Oxford

More than half of respondents said that men and women should never been segregated – even if it is a key part of someone’s culture or religion.

And half of those asked also think that universities should work with police and security services to weed out students at risk of ‘succumbing to terrorism’.

Last year, a petition was launched calling for Cardiff University to cancel a lecture by Germaine Greer following comments made about the transgender community.

Despite 2,500 calling for her not to speak at the university, the lecture went ahead after the vice chancellor said he was ‘committed to freedom of speech and open debate’.

Nick Hillman, Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute and author of the report said: ‘Many of today’s students are confused about one of the biggest issues facing higher education.

‘Indeed, for some of them, illiberalism appears to be a way of protecting liberalism. While a majority of students think you should never limit free speech in principle, they are considerably less supportive in practice.’

He said ‘The results also suggest the Government’s controversial Prevent Strategy, which puts duties on universities to discourage terrorism, is not as unpopular among students as many people believe. Neither is the National Union of Students’ No Platform policy.’