University of [insert place name here]
News that the University of Oxford could be considering a new EU campus in Paris has been generating headlines. It wouldn’t be the first to make a move abroad — and with Brexit and a new regulatory framework, UK universities could do more than just set up new overseas bases.
University of Oxford. University of Cambridge. University of this city. Of that county.
Many universities are named after where they’re based. Some have other reasons for their title, such as a benefactor (Harvard) or a notable individual (De Montfort) but these usually have a local connection.
This gives a sense of permanence to the institution. It’s highly unlikely that the town of St. Andrews is going to vanish so the impression is that its university won’t either.
The local name also makes the institution part of an area’s identity. This is especially true for a provincial university, which can be major employers for its region and an important reason corporations base themselves there.
Corporations themselves can move around the world with relative ease, shifting their offices and factories from one city to another as market and business climates change.
A university campus, by contrast, appears static. It may grow and change but most people would think that most, if not all, teaching and learning take place in the buildings there. But some universities provide distance learning, which often involve academics travelling to teach at other institutions. The University of London has been operating its programme since 1858. More recently, universities have opened permanent bases overseas. In Malaysia, you can study on the campuses of (among others) Nottingham, Southampton, Reading and Newcastle. Even in London, there are campuses of provincial universities so you can study in the capital with providers as diverse as Liverpool, Sunderland, Warwick, Loughborough, and Cumbria.
This activity off the main university campus has evolved steadily over the past few years. What may accelerate or take it in a new direction in the UK is, of course, Brexit. Departure from the EU puts into question the funding and support for the complex networks of research collaborations that have made UK research such a success. Limits on immigration could affect the recruitment of overseas students and staff, putting universities at financial risk, and affecting their access and attractiveness to talent from across the world.
Compounding the uncertainty triggered by Brexit is the Higher Education and Research Bill currently before the UK Parliament. It’ll introduce a teaching audit that early modelling suggests could compromise the reputation of top-ranked universities. The Bill also contains major changes to funding and governance arrangements, including mechanisms to encourage new ‘higher education providers’ into the market. Even the permanence of a university is in question with provisions on how to de-register an institution.
As Brexit has raised the possibility that corporations could move their headquarters or operations out of the UK, could universities threaten or do the same?
Here are five possible models or behaviours from the corporate world that universities could adopt. Let’s use a fictional University of Northstead.
(1) Offshore. Northstead opens an EU campus which becomes a base for accessing EU funds, and collaborating with and between EU and non-EU partners. This would be comparable with the overseas campuses in countries like Malaysia, although the driver would be for accessing research funds and networks rather than students. Some universities have EU offices already and others have raised the possibility of doing something similar, either individually or in a consortium. This is the option that Oxford has reportedly considered.
(2) HQ relocation. Northstead opens a campus elsewhere in the EU which then becomes its main site. The original UK home becomes a subsidiary or is closed altogether. This would be a very radical move and one that would take long-term planning and resourcing while fending off a great deal of political pressure. The new host country would have to agree to accredit what would be for them a new institution. During the upheaval and uncertainty, Northstead would have to maintain its reputation and keep its staff and students content.
(3) Merger and relocation. Northstead opens an EU base on the campus of another university as a joint venture. The two institutions merge with the campus in the EU as the home and the one in the UK as the subsidiary. This would be a simpler and more natural process than (2) but still fraught with difficulties.
(4) Friendly/hostile takeover. An EU government attracts Northstead with a view to transfer staff and assets to its country. This would make for an interesting diplomatic incident but it could be relatively cheap way for another country to set up a new institution.
(5) Group structure. Northstead becomes part of a network of EU institutions that invites bids from governments in order to get the best deal for teaching and research. Activity could be shifted to campuses where the host country provides the most conducive environment. The threat is always that if a deal ends or another country has a better offer, activity could be moved again.
Universities are of course different from businesses. They don’t have the resources to move staff and facilities around freely, and regulations and conventions of each country vary greatly.
But under the proposed HE Bill, ‘higher education providers’ can volunteer for de-registration as well have it forced upon them. The thinking is that these providers will be leaving HE entirely. Perhaps the framers of the legislation didn’t expect an existing UK university to stay in higher education but leave the country.
Universities complain that they have to accept what governments foist on them because they have no choice. They can influence policy but rarely overturn it. Instead, universities could follow the corporate playbook and extract concessions by using the threat to move some or all of their operations elsewhere.
I’m Deputy Director of Research Management and Administration at University of the Arts London. All views are my own. orcid.org/0000–0002–3476–3845
