Former Universities Minister Lord David Willetts proposed that the UK government ought to fi ght for academics and students to be given freedom of movement within the European Union.
Speaking at the Times Higher Education World Academic Summit, he told the Times, “It’d be great if we had a real priority given to the movement of academic staff , we’ve had the chancellor talking about how important it is that bankers can move easily between the City and the EU, it’s equally important that researchers can move easily between Britain and the EU.”
This news comes amid speculation that vacancies in UK Universities are failing to attract applicants from Europe post-Brexit, according to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce).
Madeleine Atkins, chief executive for Hefce, told the organisation’s annual meeting last Thurasday, “Vacancies are not attracting any serious interest from Europe or indeed elsewhere. People who have been off ered jobs have now turned them down on the back of the referendum vote.”
Lord Willetts further argued that funding currently provided by the EU’s Horizon 2020 framework needed to be maintained, adding that whether or not this would be possible would all depend on the currently ongoing Swiss negotiations.
He stated, “We then need to have some very creative thinking about how we can continue to work alongside the EU. That could involve directly joining Horizon 2020, it could involve running a parallel structure alongside it… there are several different ways we could remain linked to the EU of which direct budget contributions to Horizon 2020 are only one.”
Commenting on Willett’s proposal, a spokesman for Oxford University told Cherwell, “Access to European streams of research funding and the free movement of people within the EU have been of huge benefi t to Oxford, allowing us to be at the forefront of life-changing, pan-European research projects and to attract the top European talent to our world-class university. We know the UK government is working hard to ensure British universities are not disadvantaged by Brexit, and in the meantime there is no immediate change to our ability to take part in EU research and innovation programmes such as Horizon 2020.”
There is currently debate as to whether the UK should remain part of the EU’s research programmes, which would include European Research Council grants. However, it has been suggested that this would only be permitted if the UK is to continue with free movement of people, something that Theresa May has indicated is unlikely.
However, Willetts was not wholly negative about the consequences of Brexit, “although I was a Remainer I think that there are some things that become more possible post- Brexit. For example, there are areas of research where there were very signifi cant restrictions because of EU regulations. Attitudes to GM and restrictions on GM crops, approaches to nanotech, restrictions on the use of data that would’ve made a lot of social science hard to conduct.”
He proposed that the British academics ought to seek closer ties with other parts of the world in order to ensure that international collaboration would continue. He stated, “As well as links to the EU look at strengthening links beyond the EU, what more can be done with China, with the Commonwealth, with the Gulf, with the US and Canada.”
Brexit has also impacted undergraduate student applications to British universities in recent weeks. UCAS have announced statistics from the 15th October deadline for Oxbridge and medical courses, revealing a 9 per cent decline in the number of students from EU countries applying.
The chief of Universities UK, Nicola Dandridge, blamed this decrease on the delayed announcement about funding for EU students until September 6.
The full impact of Brexit on applications will become clear after the January deadline next year, after which 90 per cent of applicants to undergraduate courses will have been recieved.
Before the referendum the academic community was overwhelmingly in favour of remaining in the EU. One poll of scientists by the journal Nature estimated support for Remain at 83 per cent, another for Times Higher Education putting it at 90 per cent with 40 per cent of those working in UK higher education saying that Brexit would make it more likely that they would leave Britain.
