Universities can’t afford to lose top academics

Global rankings will show this week that the UK's leading universities are among the best in the world but it is a position that will be threatened if, as a result of Brexit, we lose these very academics who have helped put us there. A significant contributor to that success is the quality of the EU - and overseas - researchers and students who have been attracted to work and study by the outward-looking and diverse intellectual communities within our universities. What is also clear is that other universities outside the top rankings and in areas such as Singapore, China, the US and elsewhere in Europe, are investing heavily in higher education and closing the gap with the world's top 20 which in this week's Times Higher Education rankings are expected to include Oxford, Cambridge, UCL and Imperial. This is why the negotiations over Brexit and the eventual terms of our withdrawal from the EU are so important if Britain's universities are to maintain their rankings. If we don't have continued freedom of movement for highly talented EU staff and students to enter the UK and if we don't safeguard our close research links with EU universities and overseas partners, then British universities could struggle to hold on to those academics and so maintain our position at the cutting edge of world research, something which is vital for our future prosperity and the economy. The key issue is how we retain and continue to attract this young talent. When you look at our top professors, many came here as PhD students or post-doctoral researchers and built their careers here.