Experts fear that Brexit will push EU academics out of the UK

DAAD, a German academic exchange service, has recently released reports warning the UK government that they are at risk of losing current and potential lecturers at universities due to Brexit.

Last week it was proposed by the largest German support organisation for international academic co-operation that EU academics should be given legal permission to teach across the UK without being forced to leave their jobs, making it hard to replace their positions in higher education.

The lack of job security given to researchers and lecturers in major institutions has caused uproar amongst members of the public since Brexit. Leaving the EU may force some of our best teachers to leave the UK, which may cause repercussions in schools and put them under government scrutiny for not achieving top results.

Since the majority of the nation voted to leave, it has been reported in The Independent that the pro-Remain group ‘Scientists for EU’ have been busy “collecting evidence that many EU researchers and lecturers have been turning down or withdrawing their applications to work in the UK”.

However, scientists who voted for Brexit, speaking to The Telegraph, believe that “Brexit simply offers a far brighter future for research and education. The vote also means that we shall escape deeply detrimental present and planned expansions of the EU’s power.” The UK government have since released a declaration stating that all scientific projects and research programmes are to be given the grants that they had applied for before Brexit, as long as they are issued before Article 50 is inaugurated.

Last week, The Mancunion reported that foreign individuals that work in academics will be banned from contributing towards Brexit negotiations. This comes after Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, proposed that companies and institutions were to list their foreign workers, which critics regarded as “disgraceful” and “isolating”, causing tensions to rise between foreign workers.

Currently, at least 17 per cent of UK students are EU citizens and 135 universities are part of union bodies, protecting their students and teachers as much as possible; however this is becoming harder to do without the government elucidating their plans for the future of Brexit.

At the University of Manchester, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell stated around the time of the referendum that for the next two or more years there will be “no change in the immigration or employment status for EU nationals currently employed by the University, or planning to join us, or change to the way in which we collaborate with academic, industrial and commercial partners.”

The University has majorly benefited from the EU for decades, as have many other large academic institutions, so Brexit will have a huge impact when it is realised next March.