Brexit and its impact on the UK Higher Education sector and the rights of scholars and students

Abstract

This article reflects upon Brexit and its implications for Higher Education in the UK. First, it discusses how the EU Membership has influenced and shaped the development of the UK Academia, impacting on the content of academic curricula, research opportunities and staff and students mobility. The EU Membership has contributed to its internationalisation that might also suffer in the post Brexit scenario. Secondly, some economic aspects of Brexit in Higher Education are also examined, looking at corollary of research achievements and funding of the UK Universities, or its impact on financial planning heavily relying on the number of students’ intake. More importantly, this paper argues that the biggest loss for the UK Higher Education Sector would definitively be Research, Academic Collaboration and EU Funding but also staff recruitment and students mobility. In particular that the future of Research and Mobility Programmes such as Horizon Europe and Erasmus + is very uncertain. This article also looks at the post referendum hostile environment for the EU academics and students that has affected negatively the numbers of students, EU staff and academic collaboration. Finally, it also discusses some limited gains that the UK Universities could draw from Brexit. Lastly, it concludes with some optimistic notes, that the UK Universities seized perfectly the opportunities arising for the EU Membership and will use this experience to continue to grow in a more global context.