12th October 2016 1:00
By Blue Tutors
In the lead up to the EU referendum and in the wake of the Leave vote, the UK’s reputation as a global education leader has been steadily eroded. UK Universities fell in this year’s world rankings, with Cambridge falling out of the two three for the first time in the ranking’s history. As one of the country’s largest sectors, education plays a vital part in the UK economy. What is more, the impact of research an innovation is far reaching, and the UK’s historic success in this area is based on and continues to be fuelled by a vast network of foreign researchers.
Perhaps the most obvious impact of Brexit on Universities will be its repercussions for students. Currently EU citizens make up a significant proportion of students, with 11% of students at UK Universities coming from Germany alone, either on exchange programs or full length courses. This is an extremely important cultural exchange given that Germany is the UK’s largest trading partner outside the US. The future of Erasmus, the EU student exchange program that provides an irreplaceable personal and professional development opportunity, will be jeopardised by leaving the EU. This is particularly damaging to language students and research students. On the other hand, EU students currently enrolled have been guaranteed that they will remain on home fees for their course, however those applying for 2017 entry face uncertainty around both their fee status and their access to financial support. Surveys already show EU students have been put off applying for places at UK institutions in anticipation of the fee rise.
Academic staffs face a similarly ambiguous future. On average a third of academic research and teaching staff are non-UK, with this number almost doubling at the most prestigious institutions; of these, 58% are EU. Foreign academics not only bring hours of work, knowledge and funding, they also bring the diverse thinking needed for the creative solutions and innovation that is at the heart of research. The higher education sector relies on international mobility to recruit the most talented researchers from across the globe, yet two out of three institutions have seen a drop in their non-UK academics over the past year. Recent changes in UK immigration policy, including the abolition of the post-study visa, have already made it difficult for young non-EU academics to secure academic positions, as average salaries are insufficient to meet visa criteria. The uncertainty around work and residency conditions for EU researchers, as well as growing cultural concerns, has left 15% making concrete plans to leave the UK post Brexit.
British academics are also looking to move to other institutions in order to safeguard their funding and reputation. Academic collaborations and funding have been endangered by the Brexit vote, which comes at a time when UK government is dedicating less than 1% (the lowest of any OECD country) to research. The UK is currently the second highest beneficiary of EU research funding, which many institutions rely on. Since the vote UK researchers have already been cut out of international research initiatives and asked to leave international consortiums, with their inclusion being deemed as too risky in the current climate, and EU parties are withdrawing from collaborations citing xenophobia as a major reason. Even the perception that the UK is shutting its doors will leave UK research siloed with limited international exposure.
The message is clear: inability to attract and retain talent will cause long-lasting damage to the UK’s Universities.