Commenting on the Education Select Committee report Exiting the EU: challenges and opportunities for higher education, University Alliance Chief Executive Maddalaine Ansell said:
“Last week’s announcement on funding for EU students starting courses next year is very welcome. We need similar certainty that EU staff will be able to continue to work at UK universities and that our world-leading researchers can continue to collaborate with the best in the EU. Higher education is one of the UK’s leading sectors and this should be reflected in the government’s priorities during the Brexit negotiations.
“Structural funds are essential to support job-creation and growth in all parts of the country, often underpinning collaborative work between universities, regional and local authorities and employers. As University Alliance has argued, this funding needs to be replaced as the UK leaves the EU, and reshaped as a British Growth Fund.”
Notes to editors:
1. University Alliance’s written evidence to the inquiry is available online here.
2. Alliance Vice-Chancellors gave oral evidence to the Education Select Committee in January 2017 as part of the inquiry. Professor John Latham, Chair of University Alliance and Vice-Chancellor of Coventry University, and Professor Alistair Fitt, Vice-Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University and the Alliance’s research lead, both shared their thoughts on the implications for the sector. The transcript and video are online here.
3. In August 2016, University Alliance published a blog for Wonkhe on the significance of EU structural funds to the UK HE sector.
4. You can download the Education Committee’s report here.
