Two weeks ago the Provost, Patrick Prendergast, speaking at the launch of new €5 million digital health research programme based in Trinity, referenced the UK referendum and the possibility of the UK leaving the EU: “As president of a university involved in numerous EU-funded collaborations with their neighbouring island, I hope very much that we will be able to continue these partnerships in the UK.”
It wasn’t a passionate speech. Nor was it scaremongering. It was met with nervous laughter from the room full of scientists and academics who were aware of the uncertain future of this kind of cross-border collaboration if the UK leaves the EU, and of just how little they could do to change it.
When discussing the potential impact of a vote to leave on higher education in Ireland, both in the North and south, academics, staff and students keep returning to one word: “Uncertainty”. So much of the debate around the possible impact of a Brexit vote has been dominated by unclear statistic and half-truths from each side. While there are few definites, there is a general consensus that many things that we take for granted in our relationship with the UK will change, and some of these changes will negatively impact students and staff in both Ireland and the UK.
Indeed, it is difficult to find anyone in the higher education sector supporting a leave vote. Within the UK, the President of Universities UK and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kent, Dame Julia Goodfellow, has said in an open letter in the Sunday Times: “Inside the EU, our outstanding British universities are even stronger. EU membership enhances university research and education which, in turn, benefits British people.” In Ireland, a range of public figures, from government ministers to our Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, have all made a strong case for Britain remaining in the EU.
So how serious will the impact of a Brexit vote on higher education be? Well, people simply don’t know. Yet within the unknowns, there is a general consensus that Irish higher education will feel the effects on a vote to leave the EU on Thursday.
Fees
The Higher Education Authority (HEA) reiterated to The University Times that a Brexit would mean that students from the UK, as non-EU students, would not be eligible for the EU fees level under current rules.
There is, of course, the possibility that the HEA might decide to negotiate a new arrangement or agreement regarding the fee status of Northern Irish or all UK students if Britain leaves the EU. Such an agreement would not happen overnight, however, and could take months, or maybe even years, to finalise.
Unlike EU students, students from non-EU countries are not eligible to have their tuition costs paid for by the HEA. In Trinity, a typical arts student will pay €16,925 in tuition fees, while medicine and dentistry students may pay up to €30,000. While the state decides the level of EU fees, as well as the student contribution, it is within the remit of each university to set its own non-EU fees.
Erasmus
The current Erasmus cycle ends in 2020, but if Britain votes to leave the EU on Thursday their participation in the programme will definitely change before then. While Gerry O’Sullivan, who is Head of International Programmes in the HEA, does not foresee an immediate change while the UK disentangles itself from the EU, it is anyone’s guess what the relationship will look like between the Erasmus programme and the UK within ten years. Speaking to The University Times, O’Sullivan said that the relationship that the UK could have with the EU might resemble current “partner countries” within the Erasmus programme: “They have special programmes for partner countries with very limited mobilities, and many more conditions attached, and much less money and so on, so if that was to happen, it might become a partner.” These “partner countries” currently number 67, and include Albania, Egypt and Iran. However, if Britain were to join these countries, this would mean a lot less access to European educational programmes currently enjoyed by UK students.
It is unlikely that British students coming to Ireland will be dismayed by increasing difficulties in studying in Ireland for a year. While Ireland is an attractive destination for many students, according to O’Sullivan very few British students actually come here on Erasmus, most likely because of the cultural similarity between the two countries.
As UK citizens, students from Northern Ireland would find their European exchange horizons significantly curtailed if Britain decides to leave the EU. Speaking to The University Times, President of the National Union of Students–Union of Students in Ireland (NUS-USI), Fergal McFerran, outlined his concerns that an end to Erasmus may make Northern Ireland a less attractive place to live in and study. “I think there’s huge benefits not just of outward student mobility, but for us in Northern Ireland, of inward student mobility, in terms of what that does, not just in driving our local economy, which is quite a small economy and relies heavily on tourism, but also in terms of the social and cultural benefits”, he said.
Before the campaign, McFerran called an emergency conference of all the unions that are members of NUS–USI, the result of which was that students decided to campaign to remain in the EU. In a referendum in St Mary’s College in Belfast, for instance, 85 per cent of students voted to campaign to remain in the EU. The Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s University Belfast, Prof Patrick Johnston, has put his name to an open letter from Universities UK calling on the country to remain in the EU. Emphasising the consensus among staff and students regarding the referendum, McFerran noted the “very few times you’ll find students unions, student leaders and universities speaking with one voice on issues”.
Traineeships
Around 40 per cent of the 1,100 Irish students to take up traineeships during their degree go to the UK for traineeships and placements, according to O’Sullivan, and it is likely that a Brexit vote could lead to an eventual change in both the relationship with UK employers and the destinations Irish students choose to work in. Most of these students are in the areas of construction, engineering, catering, education and social care.
There isn’t, however, any evidence of a drop-off in applications ahead of the referendum, with O’Sullivan pointing out that changing employment patterns have a much more significant impact on the number of students crossing the sea to the UK. “If Britain was to leave the European community, its difficult to imagine them enjoying the same benefits of being a member, so I would not speculate as to how that change might affect in a practical way but you could hardly imagine them having the same advantages outside as inside the European Union”, he said. Of these benefits, it is likely that any limit on the freedom of movement of workers would have an impact on Irish students searching for a traineeship.
These concerns are echoed by the University of Limerick (UL)’s Director of Cooperative Education and the Careers Division, Patrice Twomey. UL has one of the largest internship programmes in Ireland, and speaking to The University Times, Twomey expressed concern that the opportunities of UL students might be inhibited by a Brexit vote. “Obviously anything that might limit those opportunities would be a concern for us, and I guess the main one would be the freedom of movement of workers, if it were to become compromised, or were it to be reduced as a result of it”, she said. According to Twomey, around 20 per cent of UL students go on a placement each year, with around 20 or 30 students working in the UK each year. Adding that the UK is “an important market for us”, Twomey described her fear that employers, being “pretty conservative animals”, might resist hiring Irish students if the process becomes more complex in the event of a Brexit. “Employers are quite conservative when it comes to making decisions around recruitment and selection, and anything that adds an additional hassle may be seen as a barrier, I would be pretty concerned about that”, she said.
Traineeships are fundamental to many degrees, with areas like aerospace technology and car manufacturing benefitting from the wider opportunities outside of Ireland.
Twomey expressed particular concern for Irish students living close to the border, who may want to take up a placement in Northern Ireland. A reinstatement of border controls would act as a significant “deterrent” to students. “Let’s just say you were from one of the border counties, and you were commuting in and out every day … I think that something like that is a turnoff for students”. There has been fear raised during the campaign that a Brexit vote would lead to a reinstatement of a hard border between Ireland and the UK. While the leave side, including the Northern Ireland Secretary, Theresa Villiers, have rejected the idea that a vote to leave would mean a return to border controls, the effect on the Northern Irish border of a Brexit vote is still uncertain.
Research
If the UK leaves the EU, its higher education institutions will no longer be able to apply for EU research funding, such as Horizon 2020. According to Universities UK, UK universities attracted more than £836 million in research grants and contracts from EU sources in 2014-15, representing 14.2 per cent of all UK income from research grants and contracts for that year.
Northern Irish institutions, according to McFerran, have been severely underfunded for years. By removing this research funding, there is a danger that the “system is going to be put under even more strain”, he says. The Northern Ireland Horizon 2020 Strategy outlines a goal of achieving €145 million in funding from the programme. Needless to say, this target would not be reached if the UK leaves the EU tomorrow.
The strategy outlines a number of regional contact points across Northern Ireland, with each specialising in a particular area of research. Speaking to The University Times, Ulster University’s Head of European Research Development, Teresa Lennon, whose university specialises in connected health and energy, expressed her concern that a vote to leave the EU would lead to a loss of research funding for Northern Irish universities: “It’s very important. Obviously a lot of our participation in Horizon 2020 is crucial to the research funding environment at Ulster”. Lennon described her concern that a Northern Ireland that is outside the EU would suddenly become a much less attractive place to fund research and establish partnerships.
The amounts of funding Northern Irish institutions receive are not insignificant. Ulster University has received around €8 million from Horizon 2020, which offers staff “the opportunity to increase our scientific capacity, to work with the best labs across Europe and the best scientists across Europe”. Under the European predecessor to Horizon 2020, FP7, Northern Ireland applicants as a whole received €88.5 million.
Yet the crucial point of the Horizon 2020 programme is that it fosters connections and research partnerships between member states. Naturally, this means a large amount of shared research between the UK and Ireland. As O’Sullivan says: “Ireland and the UK are the only two English-speaking countries, so we’re a natural partner for that country. We also have centuries of historical connectivity, and we of course share a border in this country with them, so they’re an obvious partner in this country”. This is borne out by statistics. According to the Northern Ireland Horizon 2020 Strategy, the North-South success rate in FP7 was 23.7 per cent, a figure above the EU average of 21.3 per cent. The total of €89.2 million, across 89 separate projects, was raised by North-South research collaborations.
Lennon emphasised that these relationships between Northern Irish universities and Irish institutions, whether universities, colleges or institutes of technology, are often established and facilitated through EU funding. It is not difficult to imagine that it wouldn’t just be Northern Irish institutions that would lose out if Horizon 2020 funding suddenly disappeared, but Irish research and industry too.
