Allison Drew, professor emerita at the University of York, looks at Brexit’s impact on higher education in the North-East.

THE North-East is home to many higher education institutions – Durham, Middlesbrough, Newcastle, Northumbria, Sunderland, Teesside and York, to name a few. These universities and colleges and the communities in which they are based will undoubtedly feel the impact of Britain’s withdrawal from the EU. Higher education has already been hurt by privatisation. Declining teaching staff numbers, falling real wages and growing use of short-term and zero-hour contracts, alongside rising student numbers, the transformation of students into consumers and pervasive managerial bullying have reshaped the higher education landscape. Brexit – soft or hard – will intensify pressures on UK universities.

Universities are sites where knowledge is created and shared. Knowledge is created by thinking, reading, researching and communicating with others. It is shared by writing, publishing, presenting papers at workshops and conferences and teaching, mentoring and training.

To fulfil these aims academics, support staff and students need good working conditions, including respect and fair treatment for all. Crucially, academics need time and space to think. This depends a reasonable balance between research, teaching and administration. That balance requires research funding.

But research funding will likely decline once the UK leaves the EU. British academics have performed well in EU funding competitions, winning over 15 per cent of the European Framework and 20 per cent of the European Research Council awards. Some 16 per cent of UK university research income has come from EU sources – although this is already declining. Universities UK reports that EU research funding adds more than £1bn to GDP and generates over 19,000 jobs. Brexit threatens these positive spin-offs.

The region’s universities have benefited handsomely from the EU. For example, Durham University’s Engineering Department was awarded €1,669,500 in an EU-funded project involving ten international academic and industry partners to research best environmental practices in hydraulic fracturing for shale gas and oil development. With EU funding, Middlesbrough College hosted teachers from nine European countries to develop innovative teaching and learning resources for design, science, technology, engineering and maths.

Newcastle University has 20 European Research Council grant holders. In February 2017 a Northumbria University-led consortium was awarded €1m by the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation to investigate why employers often struggle to attract, manage and retain young talent.

Sunderland University’s Internship and Enterprise project is receiving up to £2.2m from the EU’s European Regional Development Fund, which invests in projects supporting innovation, business, job creation and community regeneration. Finally, the University of York’s campus expansion was facilitated by EU funding. These diverse EU-funded projects create local jobs, ranging from research, teaching and administrative positions to hospitality and catering employment.

KNOWLEDGE creation flourishes in environments that welcome international contacts. British universities are already affected by travel restrictions for people from outside the EU, with both prestigious guest speakers denied visas and prospective students unable to get visas in time for their courses. The EU allows the free movement of people, and about 16 per cent of UK academics are EU nationals. However, their future is uncertain since after Brexit they will face the difficulties of obtaining visas.

Currently many students in the North-East benefit from study abroad programmes. Although some of these will continue, the EU Erasmus programme may no longer be available to British students, who will have fewer opportunities to live in Europe and learn European languages. British universities will presumably become less international and less open to diverse cultures while the world becomes ever more globalised.

The 2016 Higher Education White Paper points towards a two-tier educational system that privileges the most prestigious universities. Thus, Brexit’s ramifications will be felt unevenly across the higher education sector. Universities in the North-East, especially the newer universities, will likely be hard hit.

The EU has supported and strengthened British higher education. Withdrawal from the EU, combined with privatisation, will leave British universities under-resourced, increasingly parochial and ill-prepared for our global society. Once EU funding for British universities stops, the ripple effects will be felt across the North-East.

  • Allison Drew is a professor emerita at the University of York and an honorary professor at the University of Cape Town. She specialises in African politics and 20th Century history and has conducted research in Africa and Europe.