BREXIT: What will happen with UK higher education after Brexit?

What will happen with UK higher education after Brexit?

In this essay it is going to be discussed the future of the university education after Brexit. First, it is going to be done a brief introduction of the relation between Britain and the rest of Europe in higher education. Secondly, the essay will analyse how the students of both the EU and UK will be affected, especially in the Erasmus Programme, taking into account the possible consequences of leaving the programme. Thirdly, it will be discussed how Brexit will affect education in the particular case of Scotland and suggest the potential strategies to develop the education system. Finally, it is going to be used Romero’s personal experience to show the first effects of Brexit on individual students.

The UK’s vote to leave the EU has caused widespread consternation and has weakened the relations between Europe and the UK. Among other features, the higher education system is one of the main important aspects that will be affected by this situation. In the past decades, EU universities and British universities have had many exchange and cooperation programmes, one of the most popular is the Erasmus Programme. This programme has not only helped the universities to deepen academic research and improve new teaching methods, but it has also made students have more opportunities to receive better education resources. However, Brexit has changed this favourable cooperation and it is estimated to have even worse impacts in the long term.

To begin with, we are going to write about the EU and UK students’ problems in studying abroad in Europe. In demographic terms, UK universities will be affected because they have a EU undergraduate’s dependence, and leaving the EU, they will have reduced a number of excellent students from European countries. Moreover, another reason why EU students can decide not to come to UK universities is the financial one. Even though it is already known that the EU will give less financial support to EU students who go to the UK (because it will be no longer in the EU), the current concern of students is if they will be required to pay the full international student’s fee. If this occurs, the number of these students will dramatically decrease in UK universities. Furthermore, UK universities will also suffer potential consequences for the decline in revenues (Mayhew, 2017). At the same time, UK students will also have the same main issues. Nevertheless, in the case of British students it will not be so much a financial problem but a problem of having fewer opportunities when they want to pursue advanced studies.

In addition to the reduction of the number of excellent students, universities’ academic research may also be affected. In previous years, numerous cooperation programmes were established in an attempt to encourage academic research and faculty development. Such collaborations have largely improved research-oriented universities capabilities. Once lost the support from EU, UK universities may not satisfy the needs of the nation and society in the long term. Furthermore, it will be difficult for universities to hire and retain staff from EU countries. Overall, the impact on the ability of UK universities to develop will be huge. After Brexit, UK needs to deal with how to ensure adequate funding for research (Mayhew, 2017).

          Facing such negative impacts, the Scottish government has shown its objection to Brexit in terms of education. The government released the information that its universities will continue to welcome students from Europe despite the threat from Brexit. Scotland is proud of its thriving higher education and recognises the social economic and cultural benefits. International students have made a huge contribution to Scotland. The government believes in its excellence in education and the proud of its deep sense of internationalism. Although worrying signs show that Brexit is making Scotland less attractive for EU students, the reduction in the number of applicants to Scottish universities has had less impact than in England. This has also shown the damage being done by the decision to leave the EU (Anon, 2017). Overall, the Scottish government’s attitudes and response towards Brexit’s influence on the education system suggest that improvements are needed to make up for the loss of excellent students, resources and experts from the EU.

To improve the education system, UK universities should try to use strategies to develop its higher education system for the longer term. Firstly, UK universities’ administration should take the positive advantage of its program duration to attract non-European students. The negative impact of Britain's harsh study abroad policy is less than the positive attraction of having a shorter time to complete a degree. The undergraduate program is usually 3 years for international students and 1 to 2 years for post-graduate. Despite the fact that the visa threshold is strict, the shorter academic structure is still an important factor in attracting more international students’ interests. Furthermore, Brexit will also bring opportunities and encouragements to the development of the British education system under great challenges. UK universities may seek broader international cooperation without losing the opportunity to develop their overseas education industry. Although Brexit will not have much impact on the overall development of higher education in Britain, it is undeniable that Brexit has still brought about major changes in the field of scientific research in the United Kingdom. Britain should take the path of bilateral and international cooperation and innovation in the future.

From personal experience, even though if Brexit has still not happened, it has already affected me. As a current Erasmus student in the University of Edinburgh, I can say that I have had fewer opportunities to choose a university in England than other partners in previous years, with this I mean that for instance, in places such as London there was only one place to go for the Erasmus and it was for one single semester. This was not the case of Scotland, where I have had the same opportunities to choose a university than my other partners had in recent years. In the financial point of view, my scholarship has been affected, because the United Kingdom has passed from a first category destination for Erasmus students to a second one, so I received less money from the EU to go to the UK. Moreover, accommodation prices will also be more expensive in following years according to what I have been told by the university here in Scotland. Nevertheless, a good aspect about Brexit that will be good for students is that the pound has been devalued in recent years, so the exchange range between the euro and the pound will benefit us. My suggestion will be not to leave the EU, because there will be serious consequences in the Erasmus Programme, but as it seems impossible to reverse this situation, I would probably try not to change the Erasmus and reinforce it offering more opportunities to study in the UK. This reinforcement should be done to improve the European educational system and try to avoid mixing politics with education.

In conclusion, our study aimed to investigate the effects of Brexit on the UK higher education system. We have explored the negative effects of Brexit on both European students and UK universities. We then discussed the potential advantages and strategies that could be adopted to make up for the loss of the advantages of being inside the EU and development of the UK education system. In general, we can see that Brexit is having negative effects on both the EU and the UK particularly. In the future, it is estimated that UK universities will have a decline in their income of EU students, financial aid from Europe and academic research resources. And UK universities will also need to seek other alternatives, such as broader international cooperation, to improve their academic research quality in the long term.

References

Mayhew, Ken; UK higher education and Brexit, Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Volume 33, Issue suppl_1, 1 March 2017, Pages S155–S161, https://doi-org.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/10.1093/oxrep/grx012

Anon, 2017. SCOTLAND IS TOP OF ERASMUS CLASS. States News Service, States News Service, Feb 3, 2017.

In collaboration with Chushu Wu.