Well, at least the Liberal “Democrats” have put some clear blue water between the main political parties on Brexit in the run-up to a General Election and/or second referendum. Their party conference voted to cancel Brexit if they win a majority in the next Parliament, which sounds pretty final. But it doesn’t sound very democratic […]
Read the rest of this entry »Don’t you know anyone who voted for Brexit?
Does the UK higher education elite need to break out of its London and South East bubble and attempt to understand why people in Northern cities like Sunderland and Middlesbrough voted heavily in favour of Brexit?
Read the rest of this entry »Don’t ignore grass roots for internationalisation
DESPITE the rise of inward-looking nationalism, the election of Donald Trump on an ‘America First’ ticket and the possibility of a hard ‘Brexit’ from the European Union for the United Kingdom, the world’s universities remain committed to the cause of globalisation. But are some of their actions adding to the discord between the internationally-mobile elite […]
Read the rest of this entry »Can UK universities remain European after Brexit?
Are there lessons for Brexit Britain to learn from Switzerland’s threatened exclusion from the European Union’s collaborative programmes for mobility and research, such as Erasmus+ and the Horizon 2020, after a referendum vote to restrict immigration? ERASMUS is arguably one of the European Union’s biggest success stories in demonstrating the value of the European project. […]
Read the rest of this entry »Swiss lessons for UK universities’ referendum campaign
I don’t know if British university vice-chancellors are really likely to follow the call from the Swiss lake district of Lausanne and ‘get out on the streets’ to defend the UK’s membership of the European Union – but at least they are stirring into some form of activity. The call for street action came from […]
Read the rest of this entry »UK universities launch campaign to stay in European Union
UNIVERSITIES UK, or UUK, has launched Universities for Europe, a campaign to highlight how the European Union helps universities support individuals, the economy and society in the UK. UUK, the British national rectors’ conference, represents 133 British universities; and the country’s higher education institutions appear to be speaking with one voice in support of promoting […]
Read the rest of this entry »Swiss immigration vote is warning for the UK
Switzerland’s political elite were not the only ones taken aback by a popular vote against mass immigration – and the reaction from the European Union has lessons for those clamouring to end Britain’s EU membership. That’s the warning from the rector of a top Swiss university after a tiny majority of 50.3% voted to support […]
Read the rest of this entry »EU exit would damage British universities
Universities have warned that a British exit from the European Union would be “potentially disastrous” for higher education and the wider research community, as I reported for University World News. Without membership of the politico-economic union of 28 member states, Britain would not just lose access to billions of euros worth of research grants, but […]
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