Journalist. After a degree in History, I spent three years in Berlin, then studied Science Journalism at @CityUniLondon. Focused on migration and environment.

May 6, 2016

UK universities may lose some of the most brilliant minds in the EU

EU referendum will affect 5.5 per cent of the student body

Paris, May 2014, young protest against Le Front national, after the EU elections results came out © Serge klk

If the UK votes to leave the European Union 5.5 per cent of the student body will be affected.

The data released by the Higher Education Statistics Agency shows that 124,580 students (post and undergraduate combined) with an European country domicile were enrolled at the UK’s 163 universities in the academic year 2014/15.

There are 46,230 EU postgraduate students, representing 8.59% of their total. EU undergraduate students are 78,350, representing 4.53% of their total.

When counting by nationality (rather than domicile), their number is even higher and with 196,760 students (post and undergraduate combined) they represent 9% of the student body. They came mostly from Germany (13,675 students), France (11,955), Ireland (10,905), Italy (10,525), Greece (10,130), Cyprus (9,745), Spain (7,040), Romania (6,590), Bulgaria (6,255) and Poland (5,245).

Main universities

In an open letter to the Sunday Times, 103 British universities have established themselves as advocates of continued EU membership, stating that the so-called Brexit would harm Higher Education in the UK. According to data released by HESA, some universities’ courses are based on a large proportion of EU domicile students.

The list below shows post and undergraduate combined figures for the year 2014/15.

University of Aberdeen: 40% of students are enrolled in Social studies and 39% of students enrolled in Computer science came from other European countries
Cranfield University: 44% of students enrolled in Biological sciences came from other European countries
Guildhall School of Music and Drama: 18% of students enrolled in Creative arts and design came from other European countries
Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine: 31% of students enrolled in Computer science, 20% of students enrolled in Engineering and technology, 19% of students enrolled in Mathematical sciences and 15% of students enrolled in Business and administrative studies came from other European countries
London Business School: 18% of students enrolled in Business and administrative studies came from other European countries
University of London (Institutes and activities): 25% of students enrolled in Historical and philosophical studies came from other European countries
London School of Economics and Political Science: 23% of students enrolled in Business and administrative studies came from other European countries
Royal Academy of Music: 22% of students enrolled in Creative arts and design came from other European countries
Royal College of Art: 26% of students enrolled in Creative arts and design came from other European countries
Royal College of Music: 21% of students enrolled in Creative arts and design came from other European countries
Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance: 16% of students enrolled in Creative arts and design came from other European countries

Business is the subject with the most European students

Attracted by the possibility of studying in some of the best ranked universities in the world, 24,320 were enrolled in 2014/15 overall in the UK as both under and postgraduate in Business and administrative studies, 13,140 in Social studies and 12,415 in Engineering and technology.

London’s problem

Eight of the ten universities with the highest number of EU-students are based in London. The city alone is home to 119 universities, with overall 32,780 European students enrolled last year.

The European students at the London unis are a big part of the art studies

The five universities with the highest number of European students enrolled in 2014/15 were: the Royal College of Art, the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. Those institutions have 985 European students enrolled, representing up to 20% of the student bodies in those universities.

Business schools are also concerned about the future of the UK higher education. The London School of Economics and Political Science will be also affected, with around 18% of its students coming from other European countries.

LSE has recently launched a campaign to show why the UK should remain in the European Union.

Fees may change

But that comes at a price.

According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), average tuition fees at public institutions in the UK are higher than the fees paid in any other developed countries.

National and European students pay $9,000 (£6,000) on average. And the average tuition fees charged by public institutions for international students are often twice the fees charged for citizens of EU or European Economic Area countries.

When the EU referendum will be held on 23rd June, immigration issues will rise. European students might lose their privilege to pay as much as British citizens and, with it, the willing to study in the UK universities.
Times Higher Education World University Rankings compared the prices around EU so see what fees might UK students face if the UK left the EU.

EU staff

The same might happen with the academic staff. According to HESA, the numbers of European academic staff have been rising during the last 10 years. They represented 10.0% of the academic body in 2005/06, but 16.3% last year. This trend might stop for reasons related to Visas permission to work.
Over 15% or over 30,000 of academic staff at UK institutions are non-UK EU nationals. In some universities, like LSE, the London Business School and Imperial College, this figure is above 30% and at St Mary’s University College in Belfast it’s 71%, according to HESA.

Russell Group fear the loss of some of the brilliant minds currently working as researcher at the UK institutions. In their report, the group observed that more than 50% of the prestigious European Research Council Consolidator awarded to UK universities, worth up to €2 million each, were won by EU academics working here.

UK students abroad

UK students might face some problems as well. Mobility across Europe might be reduced.
A report published by Joan-Anton Carbonell for Kingston University shows that, the number of Erasmus students grew by 6.93% in the United Kingdom in 2012/13 compared to the previous year. Continuing the annual increase seen from 2007/08, total growth of amounts to 42.9%.
A total of 14,651 entries are registered in the Erasmus data for 2012/13. Between them, 4,480 students did their Erasmus in France, 3,466 in Spain, 2,126 in Germany and 1,006 in Italy.

British students created in 2013 a website called Students for Europe, because they believe that leaving the EU can just make them lose some advantages. “Being part of Europe means we are guaranteed rights such as maternity leave, holiday entitlement, and the right not to be discriminated against because of race, sexual orientation, or a disability. Without the EU, national governments would be less willing and less able to stand up for the rights we often take for granted.”

The debate

However, some believe that leaving the European Union can take an advantage to the UK higher education. Professor Emeritus of International History at the LSE Alan Sked wrote on LSE’s BrexitVote blog that “critically-trained minds should disregard the EU’s panicking ‘pet academics’ in the UK but embrace Brexit as the obvious future for Britain and its universities.” He supported his opinion showing that non-EU members take also part to European research initiatives, such as Horizon 2020.

But researchers are aware that leaving Europe could be detrimental to men more than just to funds.
For this reason Stephen Hawking was one of the 150 fellows of the Royal Society scientists who came out in March arguing that Brexit could be a “disaster for science.”
The Nobel prize-winning director of the Francis Crick Institute, Sir Paul Nurse, told BBC Radio 4’s in February that UK research institutions can’t be effective alone: “We cannot afford to be an island in science.”
And a new campaign was born by UK scientists’ initiative, called Scientists for EU, to keep the UK in the EU.

The London School of Economics hosted on Friday a discussion chaired by the Director Prof Tony Travers on how Brexit can change London. Liberal Democratic Europe spokeswoman Baroness Ludford, Dr Christopher Bickerton, Ben Judah (This is London: Life and Death in the World City) and Cambridge expert on European politics Dr Julie Smith were there. They talked about European migration and London foreseeable development.
When it comes to higher education, politicians don’t have a clear plan.
“Higher education and research does matter,” Dr Smith said. “Our researchers — particularly in medicine and engineering — are working for the good of the whole society and it impacts on the all economy. But in terms of students’ fees, I don’t think anybody has got as far as working that out.”