{"id":1928,"date":"2017-01-26T02:00:11","date_gmt":"2017-01-26T02:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chief-exec.com\/?p=1928"},"modified":"2017-02-23T17:51:08","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T17:51:08","slug":"universities-need-numbers-to-add-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chief-exec.com\/?p=1928","title":{"rendered":"Universities need numbers to add up after Brexit"},"content":{"rendered":"

It really is all about the numbers, whether it be funding for ground breaking – often life saving – research, undergraduate or postgraduate students or engaging with emerging markets.<\/p>\n

The scale of the figures involved means Brexit has the capacity to seriously damage the nation\u2019s multi-billion pound higher education sector.<\/p>\n

That is what the House of Commons Education Committee was told yesterday when it took evidence in a packed Haldane room at University College London (UCL).<\/p>\n

President and Provost at UCL, Michael Arthur, outlined the difficulties his university faced. Students from 160 countries were enrolled. Thirty per cent of UCL students were from outside the European Union, and 12 per cent from within the EU.<\/p>\n

The university had successfully branded itself as London\u2019s global university, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t look so good if [our banner] says \u2018UCL – London\u2019s global university minus Europe\u2019,\u201d Professor Arthur quipped.<\/p>\n

In the 2016-17 academic year 39,473 students enrolled at UCL – 4,926 were from the EU, predominantly from France, Italy, Germany, Greece and Spain. Those EU students now face an uncertain future, not knowing what visa changes lie ahead or if they will be eligible for the loans they need to complete their courses. Applications from EU students have already fallen by 7.43 per cent.<\/p>\n

\n

[EU students] were being used as pawns in a political game, where their right to continue to study appeared to be dependent on what Mrs May could get for UK nationals living in Europe<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n

There are 12,300 staff at UCL, 7,900 of them are from the UK and 2,600 from the EU – mainly Italy, Germany and France. Of that 2,600 figure, 1,099 are researchers and 563 academics.<\/p>\n

Those researchers and academics collaborate on projects and are heavily reliant on EU funding, especially from the European Research Council and Horizon 2020. Since 2007, UCL has been awarded 160 ERC grants. And, since 2014 when Horizon 2020 began, UCL has been awarded 46 grants.<\/p>\n

Professor Arthur said that, since last June\u2019s referendum, he had written to all relevant departments seeking clarification on future collaboration. \u201cBasically I was told \u2018don\u2019t phone us, we\u2019ll phone you\u2019,\u201d he told the committee.<\/p>\n

The best researchers were those Europeans that came to the UK as post-doctoral students and then spent many years working on important scientific discoveries, he said. \u201cThey\u2019re now very worried about the pernicious effect of Brexit \u2026 EU students are very talented. They come from a diversity of cultures. The creativity of a university is fuelled by that diversity of culture and talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Professor Arthur\u2019s concerns were supported by the six other witnesses from across the sector that gave evidence. Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union told the committee that Brexit and anti-immigration rhetoric were damaging UK higher education. She recognised that Prime Minister Theresa May\u2019s recent announcement of an industry green paper that could lead to new funding for research and development offered some reassurance.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the reality is the future is still unclear,\u201d Ms Hunt said. \u201cI say that with some sorrow. In reality it\u2019s an aspiration rather than a guarantee.\u201d<\/p>\n

Universities were still unclear about future funding – especially whether or not the government would replace any lost funds from the EU in the long term. Citizens from the EU had already begun to look elsewhere for long-term employment. And which staff and students would be allowed to stay in the UK – a complex policy question that should be properly debated – appeared to be driven by the Home Office, not higher education institutions, she said.<\/p>\n

Soraya Vieru, a vice-president at the National Union of Students, told the committee there were 125,000 students from the EU paying to study at UK universities. Yet they were being used as pawns in a political game, where their right to continue to study appeared to be dependent on what Mrs May could get for UK nationals living in Europe.<\/p>\n

Asked by committee members what she believed should be a priority for government in the lead up to Brexit, Ms Vieru said: \u201ca workable immigration system\u201d.<\/p>\n

\n

This is not the time to take a step backwards if we\u2019re looking to build a fairer Britain<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Jo Beall, director of education and society at the British Council, said she welcomed the government\u2019s aspirations for \u201ca global Britain\u201d, but for that to become a reality Britain needed \u201cglobal graduates\u201d and a hard Brexit threatened both. \u201cWe need to take students out of net migration figures,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s vital that we engage with emerging markets. For example we\u2019re working with 80,000 students from China, 25,000 from India,\u201d Dr Beall said. \u201c\u2026 International higher education is becoming increasingly regionalised. This is not the time to take a step backwards. \u2026 We can\u2019t say \u2018we want to trade with you, but we don\u2019t want to see your children in our universities\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nicola Dandridge, chief executive at Universities UK, said the government had \u201can unparalleled opportunity to recalibrate\u201d the immigration system.<\/p>\n

She too urged that students be removed from the net migration figure, saying \u201cwe welcome genuine students [but] immigration policy must be based on robust data\u201d. The International Passenger Survey was unreliable and governments needed to stop making changes to immigration rules so that the system could be relied upon by those hoping to study in the UK.<\/p>\n

Gavan Conlon, partner and head of education and labour markets at London Economics, said the UK had become \u201cslightly tainted\u201d in the months following the referendum and it needed to act quickly to change that perception. Universities might benefit from the falling pound, which had dropped 10.6 per cent since the referendum, but the uncertainty that also followed changes everything.<\/p>\n

Rosie Burchard, director of external relations at the Erasmus Student Network UK, said: \u201cThis is not the time to take a step backwards if we\u2019re looking to build a fairer Britain\u201d.<\/p>\n

By Aban Contractor<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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