Mobility restrictions set to damage British universities

In the last few months, a series of terrible errors in immigration cases have gripped the United Kingdom as ‘hostile’ policies have infiltrated people’s everyday lives. Uncertainty around Brexit and constant instability – witness another Tory leadership contest in the crucial remaining months of the extension of the negotiating period – have only added fuel to what many consider to be the burning injustices Prime Minister Theresa May is leaving in her wake.

At the forefront of Brexit concerns lies academia: critics fear Brexit, particularly a no deal Brexit, will gravely jeopardise life-changing research and pioneering projects that the UK and the European Union collaborate on.

One dire consequence of Brexit is that the UK seems to be opting out of leading such projects and UK academia runs the risk of suffering reputational damage on the global stage.

New figures were reported recently, but many believe that the decline began as soon as the EU referendum took place, as evidenced by the latest QS international rankings of universities in which UK institutions fell for the third year in a row.

A hostile environment for immigrants

At any rate, this hardly bodes well for the future of academia in the UK given that the harshest red lines haven’t even been imposed yet.

Free movement has generously pumped talent into universities by allowing recruiters to poach the best and brightest from across the European continent, frictionless and free. Free movement has vastly contributed to the prestigious status UK universities boast today: the sector brings £21 billion (US$26 billion) into the British economy every year and supports 944,000 jobs.

However, the arrival of Brexit and its restrictive ‘skills-based’ immigration plan for 2021 is set to shake all of that up. While EU nationals already in the UK can apply for Settled Status that paves the way towards British citizenship, EU entrants after 2021 will be subjected to the UK’s immigration rules.

Not only does this mean that Brexit will mean the end of free movement, but what it will be replaced with will be prohibitively expensive: EU academics will need to pay for a visa, a compulsory English language test, a £2,000 Immigration Health Surcharge and the fee for registering biometric information.

To qualify for a work visa, EU scholars will also need to earn a minimum of £30,000 a year, which elbows most junior level academics out entirely. Such restrictions are troubling too because academic earnings continue to decrease: wages have declined for UK-based academics by 19% in the last 10 years.

Science and research at risk

Yet visa restrictions also pose a greater risk than a lack of academics, such as a diluted scope for science and research. While Britain receives far more EU funding net than it contributes, it has long relied on EU collaboration in its scientific research and projects.

Already, British researchers are finding themselves shut out of bids for major European research partnerships such as climate change and cancer research amid anxiety over a no deal Brexit. Where nine Russell Group universities led 49 big UK-EU research projects in 2016, this declined to a mere 20 in 2018.

Birmingham University has been asked to retract its five bids for training networks that are funded by the EU’s Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, while Professor Pamela Kearns, director of the university’s Cancer Research UK Clinical Trials Unit, which is currently sponsoring 16 trials based in 21 EU countries, claims uncertainty over Brexit is making her fellow research partners nervous.

Research conducted in robotics and climate change is also at risk of disruption by Brexit as researchers at the London School of Economics (LSE) Grantham Research Institute have already been forced to withdraw their leadership of a project because UK researchers could compromise results further down the line. Peter Cox, professor of climate system dynamics at the University of Exeter, worries that he could be axed entirely in the event of a no deal Brexit.

Academics denied visitor visas

An even bleaker picture for the future can be glimpsed by looking at the latest immigration scandal: it has emerged that African academics are routinely denied visas to attend conferences and projects in the UK.

Home Office figures show Visitor Visa refusals doubled from 14% to 29% for African applicants between 2010 and 2017. Those that have come to light include: 17 delegates who were unable to attend the European Conference on African Studies; 24 of 25 African delegates were barred from attending the LSE Africa Summit; and a further seven were unable to attend the World Community Development Conference. Only six researchers were able to attend a £1.5 million flagship programme to tackle the Ebola crisis.

The most common grounds given for refusal across these cases were that the Home Office either didn’t believe those concerned were researchers (despite mountains of evidence to the contrary) or that they deemed they wouldn’t return to their native country at the end of their stay.

One researcher from the Glasgow Centre for International Development concluded that there is a “deep-seated concern” for UK research to stay globally relevant due to the “perceived obstructive nature of visa processes” which block some of the highest calibre students and researchers from sharing their expertise in the UK.

The Home Office has managed to burn bridges between British and overseas academics, with both feeling humiliated by the entire process. LSE academics have moved their conferences to Belgium as a result, with Alison Phipps, UNESCO Chair of Refugee Integration, saying she refuses to host international conferences in the UK due to the “embarrassing” and “discriminatory” system.

Heidi Larson, the director of the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, expressed concern for academics following another spate of rejections from 17 African and Asian researchers for a Women Leaders in Global Health conference, claiming the UK’s visa system “is not good for science”.

Damaged international reputation

A no deal Brexit in particular will plunge the sector into crisis: university leaders and academics from 150 institutions have warned in a letter to MPs that an unruly exit would lead to an “academic, cultural and scientific setback from which it would take decades to recover”.

However, irrespective of a deal or not, the hostile landscape combined with the present unhinged political climate and the harshest immigration rules to date could certainly jeopardise UK academia.

Without participation in the EU and with essentially a de facto ‘travel ban’ on academics outside Europe, global development will be impeded and UK research projects will fall behind the country’s competitors and peers. Staff might actually choose to take up a more lucrative career in the EU where wages, funding and movement across the continent aren’t stifled.

The wider impact of this is that UK universities will become even less attractive to EU students who will also face the ramped-up visa and tuition fees as well as the loss of Erasmus and student loans. UK universities could face skills gaps and widespread vacancies as a result. School leaders even warn that the UK could become monolinguistic after Brexit.

Clearly, reforms to the 2021 immigration plan need to be made to ensure academics and students are encouraged to come to the UK after Brexit or there will be catastrophic damage to the UK’s international reputation. The loss will truly be ours.

Olivia Bridge is a political correspondent and commentator for the Immigration Advice Service, the UK’s leading organisation of immigration lawyers.