Exiting the EU: challenges and opportunities for higher education

The Education Select Committee of the House of Commons in the United Kingdom Parliament published a report Exiting the EU: challenges and opportunities for higher education on the 25 April 2017.

The cross-party Members of Parliament on the committee said that the UK Government must provide guarantees to university staff from the EU and design a new immigration system that better meets the needs of higher education.

Future residency rights of EU citizens
The future residency rights of EU citizens currently living in the UK remains to be clarified. The Committee’s report calls for this uncertainty over staff from the EU to be reduced immediately. The Committee calls on the Government to speedily resolve the issue of staff residency rights by unilaterally guaranteeing rights before the end of 2017 in the event of any delay on this matter.

Remove overseas students from net migration target
The report urges the Government to remove overseas students from the net migration target, making it clear it wants talent from the EU and the rest of the world to come to the UK. The report calls for reforms to the immigration system to reflect the requirements of higher education by facilitating, rather than obstructing, movement of higher people from and to the nation’s universities, helping to ensure continued academic collaboration and the HE sector's international competitiveness.

The Committee recommends the Government introduce an easier route than the Tier 2 (skilled worker) visa for academics from across the globe, with less bureaucracy, to show it is serious in its aim of bringing in the best people from around the world.

• Primary Source

United Kingdom: Parliament: House of Commons: Committees: Parliamentary News, 25.04.17: Address staffing, immigration and research concerns to protect UK universities http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-committee/news-parliament-2015/brexit-higher-education-report-published-16-17/

ESO: Find more information in ESO on this topic http://www.europeansources.info/advSearchLink?keyword=brexit%20after%20higher%20education%20united%20kingdom%20&searchOption=all

ESO: In Focus: Brexit - The United Kingdom and the European Union http://www.europeansources.info/record/brexit-the-united-kingdom-and-the-european-union/

Universities UK: Policy and Analysis: Brexit and UK universities http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/policy-and-analysis/Pages/brexit-and-universities.aspx

BBC News, 25.04.17: Brexit university ‘brain drain’ warning http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-39693954

The Guardian, 25.04.17: Brexit brain drain threatens UK universities, MPs warn https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/apr/25/brexit-brain-drain-threatens-uk-universities-mps-warn

UCL: Centre for Global Higher Education: Policy Brefing, No.2, July 2017: Brexit and the issues facing UK higher education http://www.researchcghe.org/perch/resources/publications/brexit-and-the-issues-facing-uk-higher-education.pdf

---