Brexit – What now for universities?

The United Kingdom left the European Union on 31 January 2020. In a briefing on implications and the road ahead for higher education, the European University Association or EUA points out that both sides agree on the end goal of a close relationship in research and education – but achieving this will be complicated by a short timeframe and complex EU policy processes.

The briefing, published in January 2020, says that many in the university sector are committed to the European idea and regret the UK’s departure. “There is widespread worry about how this will affect the strong links in research, education and innovation between the UK and the rest of Europe.”

The briefing stresses that present arrangements between the UK and the EU remain in force until 31 December 2020 – and the EUA hopes that negotiations for a new relationship during 2020 will ensure minimal change for universities after that too.

The European University Association takes a (perhaps overly?) positive view, with having avoided a chaotic ‘no deal’ Brexit “allowing for clarity about the next steps” in negotiating a new relationship between the UK and EU.

What follows is a slightly shortened version of the briefing, which gives an overview of what has already been agreed and the process towards a future EU-UK relationship, with a focus on areas relevant to universities.

The EUA briefing – What is already agreed

The agreement between the UK and the EU is made up of two parts: 1) the Withdrawal Agreement, which sets out the terms for the UK’s departure in a legally binding way, and 2) the Political Declaration, which describes agreed ambitions for new relations.

“The Withdrawal Agreement concerns the rights of citizens, financial settlements, and the Irish border. It makes sure that EU citizens who already live in the UK and UK citizens who live in the EU continue to have the rights that they had before Brexit.”

This includes residence permits, pension and social rights and recognition of professional qualifications. This means university staff will have the same rights to live and work as before. “Recognition of non-professional academic degrees are not regulated by the EU to begin with so there will be no change,” the briefing says.

The Withdrawal Agreement states that the UK will continue to pay what was agreed in 2013 for the 2014-20 long-term EU budget. “In practice, this means that the UK will continue to pay into programmes such as Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+ until the projects end, and that UK entities can participate in these programmes until they end.

“There will also be a transition period, meaning that all present arrangements between the UK and the EU will remain in force until 31 December 2020. This includes data sharing, trade in goods and services, short-term mobility for students and staff and all other areas regulated by the EU. These things are agreed and are legally binding.”

The Political Declaration sets out the ambitions for the new EU-UK relationship. “The principle of this relationship from the part of the EU is very clear: the new relationship needs to be deep and wide, but a country that does not fulfil the obligations of a member state cannot enjoy the full benefits of being an EU member.”

A most important part of the Political Declaration for universities regards UK participation in EU programmes and mobility of people, says the EUA. The two sides will establish general principles, terms and conditions for UK participation in European programmes.

“This demonstrates intent for the UK to participate in EU programmes in the future: the EU has already prepared the first draft regulations for the different programmes, including the possibility of third-country association.

“In the draft regulation for Erasmus and for Horizon Europe (the two programmes that will be most relevant for universities), it is stated that third countries can associate either to the full programme or to parts of it. However, there must be a balance between the contributions of the associated country and the benefits it has from the programmes, and third countries cannot have decisional powers over the programme,” the briefing states.

“The regulations have not reached final agreement by the Council of the EU and the European Parliament, but EUA expects that the rules for association will not change dramatically.”

The EU and the UK plan to first negotiate an ‘umbrella agreement’ setting the basis for UK participation in EU programmes in general. Then there will be negotiations for individual association agreements, for instance to Horizon Europe and the new Erasmus programme.

“In theory, this is planned so that UK entities can participate in the new programmes when Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+ come to an end on 31 December 2020. The timeline is clearly very tight and might be made more complicated by a third element: the wish of the EU to have ‘reciprocity’,” says the briefing.

“Reciprocity means that for example researchers on both sides get the same rights to participate in programmes from the other side; if UK researchers gain access to EU programmes, EU researchers should have access to UK programmes.” It is clear that the rules for mobility of researchers will be part of the negotiations.

“It is understandable that a continued deep cooperation in research and education requires rules that are not overly diverging between the UK and the EU. It would be good that the regulatory framework is at least comparable if not identical.” For example, there should not be widely different rules for ethics or privacy, to avoid EU-funded research being conducted in countries where citizens have less rights in terms of privacy or consent.

“Concerning the mobility of persons, the Political Declaration explicitly states that there should be an ‘appropriate arrangement’ for recognition of professional qualifications and this would be part of the trade agreement between the EU and the UK.”

What will happen now?

“The negotiations through 2020 will be very complex, as many different processes need to be aligned within a very short time span,” the briefing continues.

It was important to keep two things in mind. “First, the end goal of deep association agreements to EU programmes is shared by both sides and despite the complexity of the situation, association remains a likely outcome. Secondly, the agreement on a transition period means that nothing will concretely change for the whole of 2020.”

The UK and the EU will begin to negotiate the principles for association to EU programmes after 31 January 2020, the briefing states.

“The Political Declaration is very general when referring to the content of the agreement: ‘[General principles] should include a fair and appropriate financial contribution, provisions allowing for sound financial management by both Parties, fair treatment of participants, and management and consultation appropriate to the nature of the cooperation between the Parties.’

“It is difficult to see whether any of these elements will be a source of difficulty and whether the negotiations about the general agreement will be long or short. It is worth mentioning that these negotiations are separated from other issues such as the trade agreement, but there will be a grey zone where there would need to be some sort of alignment, for instance for mobility of researchers (but not to overall freedom of movement).”

On the basis of the principles, the UK can make association agreements to EU programmes as a third country, as in the explicit ambition to associate to Horizon Europe and the Erasmus programme. But other programmes like Creative Europe or Digital Europe would also be possible.

Under the present proposal for association, the UK could associate to the whole or to parts of a programme. “EUA has argued that given the importance of the links in research and education, the aim should be full association.”

It was too early to speculate whether everything would be ready for the beginning of new programmes in 2021, or if there would be a gap in UK participation.

“The UK can only finalise its association to the programmes once the programmes have been defined by the EU.” Programmes are linked to the EU’s seven-year budget cycle – the Multiannual Financial Framework, MFF. Regulations for programmes change with each new budget cycle and must be approved by the European Parliament and Council.

“For these regulations to be finalised, there needs to be an agreement on how to spend the money under the MFF. At the time of writing (January 2020), the MFF negotiations have proven to be very difficult and there is no compromise in sight. This could make the already tight timeline even more pressed, in the worst case leading to a gap in UK participation between the current programmes and the next ones,” says the briefing.

“If there is a gap, the UK will still be able to associate, but there might be (in the worst case) calls in the two programmes where UK partners would have to take part with their own funds, or there might be EU legislation that allows the UK to bridge the period between the beginning of 2021 and the finalisation of the association agreement, or the UK government would unilaterally fund UK participation for a short period.”

Association to Horizon Europe and Erasmus would pave the way for continuing the close cooperation between universities. “However, there will be other issues that will likely impact on universities directly or indirectly, depending on the other parts of the Brexit negotiations, particularly the prospects of a trade deal not being reached before 2021.” These include data sharing or buying goods or services.

Summary

“2020 will be a year of complex and interconnected negotiations and legislation processes that will shape the relation between the EU and the UK for the years to come. In the grand scheme of things, research and education are relatively simple areas as both parties agree on the end goal of keeping a very close relation through UK association to EU programmes.

“However, the way to get there is made complicated by a very short timeframe, which runs parallel to other highly complex and related policy processes within the EU such as the MFF negotiations,” the briefing concludes.

“It is important to note that the Withdrawal Agreement, the Political Declaration and the transition period all mean that cooperation can continue as normal after 31 January and hopefully with few changes after 2021.

“The way may be winding, but the direction is right.”