Blog: Swift Brexit progress needed

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28 June 2018

Jessica Cole, Head of Policy, looks at why it's important to EU students and staff that there is rapid progress in securing a good deal post-Brexit.

The European Council is meeting on 28 and 29 June and in the UK all eyes are on the discussions around Brexit. It is expected that European leaders will be highly critical of the UK that more progress hasn’t been made on key issues, including solutions for the Irish border.

The pressure is mounting as major companies such as Airbus are being more vocal about the impact of a no deal scenario on future investment in the UK. Frustrations over the lack of clarity about our future relationship with the EU are increasingly apparent.

Indeed, even though a transition period has been agreed in principle, there are practical details still to be clarified. For universities, a key question is when the Government will confirm the fee rates for EU students starting courses in 2019/20. The Minister has promised a response before applications open in September and this week said the information would be provided “very soon”. But this important clarification is already two months late compared to last year’s announcement (for EU students starting courses in 2018/19). It also misses the point that EU students are already considering where to study and will even be attending open days, so universities need that information now – or, preferably, yesterday. Without confirmation of details concerning fees and funding there is a risk that talented students from the EU could look elsewhere for their degrees.

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Competing priorities?

Whilst Brexit makes front page headlines in the British press on a daily basis, this is by no means the most important issue facing the EU and is not top of the priority list for Theresa May’s counterparts on the Continent. The agenda for the Council meeting this week is dominated by migration, the economy, and security and defence issues before Brexit will even be discussed.

With Brexit relegated down the to-do list for EU leaders, and with major questions around the Irish border and our future trading arrangements still to be agreed, the UK’s future relationship with the EU on science, innovation and education could get lost in the debate as one of many outstanding issues to be discussed and decided. That’s a risk not just for our universities but for businesses too as they look for certainty on where to make future research and development investments.

But getting an agreement on this subject soon would be a win-win for both sides and in fact plays an important role in supporting the EU’s other key priorities. Research is essential to understanding major political and societal challenges and providing evidence for possible options. The UK is a leader in the EU in producing research of the highest quality and academics at Russell Group universities have a lot to offer for the future if close cooperation can be maintained.

For example, in the context of the financial crash, significant migration pressures and recent natural disasters, the LSE led a three-year EU-funded project into how ongoing and future crises can be managed more effectively across Europe. Working with seven other partners, including universities and private companies from six different countries, the team at LSE has helped developed evidence-based, high-impact policy recommendations for how European leaders and the EU institutions can improve their capacity and coordination to manage the social, economic and political consequences of major cross-border crises.

Another example comes from the University of Warwick, where the university led a four-year EU project to help policymakers in Europe understand the EU’s role in the context of global political changes and how to respond to these. Large-scale research on security and human rights, trade and finance, energy and the environment, amongst other areas, was used to form the evidence base underpinning a wide-ranging series of policy recommendations. The project had a global scope and involved partners from 15 other countries, seven of which were from outside the EU (including the US, China and South Africa).

These kinds of multi-partner, cross-border projects could not take place at a national level alone and without the EU research programme, would be extremely difficult to coordinate internationally. Without the UK’s leadership and contribution to projects of this nature, we would miss out on the opportunity to play a key role in the debate and the EU would no longer benefit from the expertise and excellence we have to offer.

Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed

There has been some good progress so far on key issues for universities, such as protecting the rights of EU citizens (including students, academics and other staff at our universities) and the UK’s ability to participate in EU programmes such as Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+ until the end of 2020.

However, the phrase “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” hangs over everything. Progress needs to be made in the negotiations or we risk jeopardising the important wins that have already been secured. There also needs to be ample time to discuss the myriad issues pertaining to the UK’s future relationship with the EU beyond the transition period.

The UK Government has published slides it presented to the EU setting out the desire to agree a high-level Science and Innovation Pact as part of the UK-EU future framework. The Prime Minister also stated clearly in a speech last month that the UK “would like the option to fully associate ourselves with the excellence-based European science and innovation programme” and would willingly make an “appropriate” financial contribution to do so. These are important and positive steps.

The proposals for the EU’s new €94 billion research and innovation programme, Horizon Europe, have also now been published and leave open the possibility for the UK to be included in the programme as an “associated country”. This is very welcome, but the UK’s participation will need to be negotiated with the EU and won’t be possible without an overarching Brexit deal.

This week’s European Council meeting is an important milestone. The ticking clock and the list of other issues occupying the time and energy of leaders across Europe mean the pressure is on to make swift progress. There is a lot to do, but securing an agreement on science and innovation could have additional benefits for many of the other major challenges facing the EU.