University staff demographics: the fabric of UK universities at risk from Brexit

Theresa May acknowledged in an open letter dated 11 December 2017 that the UK would be ‘poorer’ if non-UK EU citizens living in the UK were to leave as a result of Brexit. This statement is especially relevant to the UK higher education (HE) sector, and to EU staff working at UK universities

Redefining a Post-Brexit EU-UK Partnership in Research and Higher Education. College of Europe Policy Brief #6.18, April 2018

>Continuity and certainty are crucial to excellent scientific research, which builds on decades of fruitful relationships and networks between European partners. > Following the withdrawal of the UK from the Union in March 2019, the eligibility of UK researchers and universities to access EU research funds will be at risk. > Either formal association, or an arrangement of similar ambition in the area of research and innovation is crucial to maintain continuity. > Should there be no agreement, additional UK research funding must be agreed upon at a national level and match any projected EU increase for the 9th Framework Programme (2021- 2027). > UK government funding should be ring fenced and remain available regardless of potential changes in government. > Because cross-border collaborative applications to EU grants are time consuming, any further delay is damaging to the wider European research and science community as well as to the development of the European Research Area. > An urgent solution is of the essence, as an EU-UK partnership in research and higher education is already behind schedule

EU students at UK universities: patterns and trends

What Brexit will mean for UK universities varies from institution to institution. Much data on Brexit's impact focuses on sector-wide aggregates, the forest that hides the trees. The UK provides excellent teaching and research, as illustrated by the number of its universities ranked in the top 10, 50 or 100 in the world. Yet despite its world-class reputation, the UK's higher education sector is hierarchical, and various layers will be affected differently. Ludovic Highman (UCL) explores the sector’s diversity in this regard

Emerging from the Mist: French Universities and Global Rankings

The French higher education landscape has been considerably altered in the early twenty-first century. In order to enhance the competitiveness of the sector at the global level, the French government has steered the system through structural policy processes aimed at consolidating it and overcoming the traditional divide between universities and grandes écoles, while providing incentive schemes rewarding mergers

The EU’s modernisation agenda for universities: the rising stars of French higher education

Ever since the Lisbon European Council declared in March 2000 that Europe was to become the “most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world”, European Union (EU) institutions have actively promoted various strategies to achieve this ambitious goal. For example, as early as 2003, the European Commission strongly advocated for a “Europe of Knowledge” (2003), and in the following years has regularly released Communications (2005, 2006, 2011) explicitly nudging member states to ‘modernise’ their higher educationsystems and universities

Emerging from the Mist: French Universities and Global Rankings

The French higher education landscape has been considerably altered in the early twenty-first century. In order to enhance the competitiveness of the sector at the global level, the French government has steered the system through structural policy processes aimed at consolidating it and overcoming the traditional divide between universities and grandes écoles, while providing incentive schemes rewarding mergers

The EU’s modernisation agenda for universities: the rising stars of French higher education. College of Europe Policy Brief #5.16, March 2016

Executive Summary > Several EU member states have embarked on major higher education reforms pertaining to structural issues (Germany, 2005-2007; Finland, 2010; France, 2008; Ireland, 2011). > The EU’s ‘modernisation’ agenda for higher education has urged member states to improve the governance and funding of higher education. > The quantitative growth in student numbers and the EU’s 2020 higher education attainment target of 40% of all 30-34 year olds has led to an increased strain on public resources. > Concentrating public resources in a small number of higher education institutions has become an increasingly popular policy choice. > Competitions that evaluate and reward the research intensity of a higher education institution will find it difficult to discourage a ‘one race for all’ type of competition. Such a competition is detrimental to diversity, however, because the stakes are too high

The EU’s modernisation agenda for universities: the rising stars of French higher education

Ever since the Lisbon European Council declared in March 2000 that Europe was to become the “most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world”, European Union (EU) institutions have actively promoted various strategies to achieve this ambitious goal. For example, as early as 2003, the European Commission strongly advocated for a “Europe of Knowledge” (2003), and in the following years has regularly released Communications (2005, 2006, 2011) explicitly nudging member states to ‘modernise’ their higher educationsystems and universities

Redefining a Post-Brexit EU-UK Partnership in Research and Higher Education

The complexity of the intricate relationships linking European Union (EU) member states as well as the EU institutions and their member states appears to have beenmisunderstood in the United Kingdom (UK) at the time of the June 2016 referendum. If information is indeed power, its current unavailability is a concern, given that the UKgovernment’s plans to remain firmly embedded within theEuropean Research Area (ERA) or the Erasmus Plus programme are largely unknown to the UK’s 162 higher education institutions (HEIs) in receipt of public funding (2016-17). In what can be described as a game of high politics between the EU and the UK government, the fate of research and higher education collaboration will be sealed by high-level inter-governmental agreements decidedbehind closed door

The Brexit White Paper: what does it mean for higher education and research?

While Theresa May pledged that “the days of sending vast sums of money to the EU” are over, the UK is still very much under the illusion that the days of receiving large amounts of EU money in specific sectors are not. Hopes of an early deal allowing UK universities to remain among the highest beneficiaries of EU research funding programmes are vanishing quickly. The UK is holding on to its red lines – such as ending free movement and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) – and British officials are still publicly debating the possibility of the UK backtracking on the ‘divorce bill’ without securing a trade deal. With less than three months to go before both sides hope to achieve an agreement in October 2018, the government’s recent White Paper offered a twofold opportunity: first, to set out its post-Brexit position for higher education and research; and, second, to present the outcome of two years of negotiations. While the White Paper embraced future collaboration with EU partners, it fell short of the second objective, lacking detail and remaining non-committal in terms of the partnership status the government seeks to obtain