Here are a few brief observations from Chaplaincy on the uncertainty created by Brexit for UK Higher Education.
Chris Hale, Head of Policy at Universities UK spoke at the HE Chaplains annual conference in January 2017. He outlined the general uncertainty that now affects staff and students, as well as threatening future research funding and partnerships.It is a picture chaplains see in thier own universities.
I have had conversations with staff from EU countries worried about whether they can stay in the UK. Some have been working here for decades.There is now much evidence that the usual right to remain procedures don’t work for existing EU nationals. See the LSE Brexit blog on this.
At Imperial about 20 per cent of students and 25 percent of staff come from EU countries other than Britain. Student applications from EU countries are down by 7%.
A significant amount of research funding comes from the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme. The UK Government has now agreed to meet any loss of funding to these projects when the UK leaves the EU. This may do something to maintain collaborations between EU and UK universities.This area is being watched closely. What will happen to science funding after 2020 is not yet clear.
Practising Chaplaincy 