Collaboration with Paris and Brussels universities is attempt to counter effects of Brexit

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

The University of Warwick is to announce a radical series of collaborations with universities in Paris and Brussels in which the three institutions will share staff and research efforts, as well as offering joint degrees in an unprecedented attempt to overcome the effects of Brexit.

Stuart Croft, Warwick’s vice-chancellor, said the long-term collaborations were “despite Brexit, not because of Brexit”, as the university looked to build links in Europe to supplant those aided by the UK’s membership of the European Union.

“Politicians in and out of office in every country in Europe are still deliberating how the UK can still be part of that in future, but we can’t afford simply to wait for that to be fully resolved,” Croft said, before a ceremony to announce the new partnerships in London.

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“We chose to act now not just to show our commitment to work together in future but to begin work on a range of activities that delivers on such a commitment.”

The project will involve Warwick signing agreements with the University of Paris-Seine and Vrije Universiteit Brussel to set up joint postgraduate degrees and PhD studentships, as well as multiple fellowships and academic conferences, and student exchanges.

Later this year Paris-Seine will appoint a shared lectureship in mathematics, with the new post holder spending a portion of each year based in Warwick to collaborate with researchers there.

As soon as the 2019 academic year Warwick plans to offer a joint MA in mathematical modelling with Paris-Seine, and an MA linking Warwick’s politics and international studies programme with Vrije Universiteit Brussel’s institute of European studies.

“Politicians in Europe may choose to go their own way but we as academics choose to move in the other direction. We don’t build walls between our universities and societies, we break them down,” said Caroline Pauwels, the rector of Vrije Universiteit Brussel.

The Brussels university usually teaches in Dutch but offers more than 50 courses in English, including undergraduate courses.

The agreement between the universities is given a physical connection by the new HS2 high-speed rail link, which when completed will bring the three institutions within a short rail journey of each other via London.

Croft said that the group wanted to be radical, not merely to overcome the effects of Brexit but to boost the local regions of each institution by involving small and medium-sized businesses in their collaborations.

The three universities plan to seal their pact at ceremony at the Shard in London, and hope other European institutions will join in future. The new grouping brings together about 66,000 students at the three institutions.

The move comes as the Campaign for Science and Engineering (Case) published a survey that found UK institutions have started to see a decline in the flow of researchers from the EU coming to work in Britain.

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“In our comprehensive survey of the sector, research organisations report falls in application rates from EU nationals and candidates turning down prestigious research positions citing Brexit uncertainty as a key factor,” said Case’s executive director, Sarah Main.

The need to find a post-Brexit settlement has encouraged two of Scotland’s traditional rivals, Glasgow and Edinburgh universities, to pledge to work together on establishing international research collaborations in meetings with EU officials and the Scottish government.

“An issue of such shared strategic significance as Brexit makes an alignment with Glasgow the right approach – one that I hope will bring vital social, economic and health benefits,” said Peter Mathieson, Edinburgh University’s principal.

