University research projects at risk of 'collapse' amid no-deal Brexit, union leader says

Vital research and collaboration projects at universities are at risk of collapsing if the UK exits the EU without a deal, the leader of the largest union of higher education staff has warned.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU), which has more than 100,000 members, said the fall-out from Brexit is the “biggest challenge facing higher education”.

A no deal could lead to significantly less access to research funding, a rise in academics leaving UK universities, and EU students could be left “in the lurch”, the UCU warned.

Her comments came after Brexit secretary Dominic Raab unveiled the first of his department’s contingency plans for a no-deal exit from the EU on Thursday.

And this week more than 700,000 signed The Independent’s petition calling for a Final Say on any Brexit deal.

The government recently guaranteed funding until the end of the decade for research projects that had secured European funding.

But Ms Hunt warned it wasn’t enough. She told The Independent: “Without a deal, funding streams will be at risk and any longer term planning will take place without our involvement.

“This risks leaving research projects and collaborations on hold or collapsing altogether.”

Of the 10 most successful recipients of the Horizon 2020 scheme – which is the largest ever European funding programme for research and innovation – four are UK universities, Ms Hunt said.

She added that UK universities and other organisations participated in more EU-funded research and projects than their counterparts from other countries during the first three years of Horizon 2020.

“Let’s be clear, the impact of a no-deal Brexit would be significant,” she added.

The union leader highlighted evidence suggesting that higher numbers of EU staff – which make up 17 per cent of UK university teaching and research posts – have quit the UK following the Brexit vote.

The Independent exclusively revealed earlier this year that more than 2,300 EU academics had resigned from British universities amid concerns over a “Brexodus” of top talent in higher education.

Meanwhile, a YouGov poll, carried out by UCU before Article 50 was triggered, showed that three-quarters of EU academics were likely to consider leaving UK higher education.

Ms Hunt said: “We probably did not expect to find ourselves in a situation almost two years later where those who pushed hardest for Brexit have abdicated any responsibility for dealing with its difficulties and there is now talk of a ‘no-deal Brexit’.

“A no-deal Brexit would also mean freedom of movement would no longer apply, leaving EU staff and students in the lurch.”

“A deal or no-deal Brexit is the biggest challenge facing higher education and the country,” she added.

The UCU is running a poll of its members from 3 September to determine the union’s position on a second referendum. It will close on 10 October.

Tim Bradshaw, chief executive of the Russell Group, an association of 24 leading research universities in the UK, said: “Across the higher education sector people want to see the government straining every sinew to secure a deal which allows continued close collaboration with our European partners.

“Contingency planning is broadly sensible in any negotiation, but in Brexit it should not come at the expense of pursuing a deal which enables the future flow of people and ideas so central to the UK’s knowledge economy.”