What has the EU done for us lately?
The debate leading up to the referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union is now well underway. In my capacity as the University’s Pro Vice-Chancellor (International) I thought that it would be useful to comment on how the University’s international ambitions are influenced by the UK’s membership of the EU, and to think about how a “Brexit” might affect us.
Our international strategy is based on the belief that world-class universities, such as Southampton, are highly international. Strong universities attract students and staff who have choices of where to study and work. Sponsors who can support work anywhere in the world, choose to fund us because of the quality of our research. Organisations which can employ people from anywhere in the world, choose our graduates because they are better than those from elsewhere. Our research outputs and alumni have an impact across the world, and are recognized for doing so. In these respects membership of the EU has played an important role in our international success over the past decade and an exit from the EU would undoubtedly have short and medium term negative consequences, with greater uncertainty in the longer term. While the following facts and discussion are specific to our University, the analysis would be similar at most of our peer institutions.
The numbers:
Students: In the present year, 2015/16, 1739 (8%) of our students come from EU countries, other than the UK, this fraction rises to 18% of our Ph.D students. EU membership plays an important role in achieving diversity and an international culture on our campuses.
Research Income: In 2014/15 the University received £18M of research income from EU sources. This accounts for about 15% of our total research funding. We rank 10th amongst UK Universities, and 17th in the EU, for funding from such sources, indicating how important the EU has become for all UK Universities. In contrast we only received £5.2M (4%) from other overseas funding sources.
Research Outputs: Of 4633 research articles published by University of Southampton authors in 2015, 1543 (33%) were published with co-authors with addresses in EU countries. In contrast we have co-published 25% of our papers with non-EU countries.
Staff: 12% of our staff come from other EU countries. A further 14% are from non-EU countries. As for our student population, this allows for increased international diversity and also allows us to make stronger international links.
Student mobility: Last year 327 of our students took advantage of study abroad and exchange opportunities, 60% of these went to EU countries. We hosted 561 inbound students, of whom 56% came from EU countries. In both inbound and outbound cases, most of these benefitted from the EU-wide Erasmus mobility programme
All of these numbers have been growing steadily over the past decade and it is clear that our connections within the European Union have become a significant component of the University’s international “reach” during this time. While none of these benefits can definitely be said to be irreplaceable, their loss or disruption would have a significant effect on the University and our staff and students, and would undoubtedly reduce its international standing. For programmes such as Erasmus and for the framework programmes for research funding, the EU has provided a relatively straightforward way for us to connect internationally, with a lower administrative overhead than associated with obtaining funding or organizing mobility with other countries on a bilateral basis. The research funding programmes also provide a welcome diversity of funding sources and evaluation criteria, which allows for a better overall mixture of research at the University; increasing our opportunities to conduct projects which will have an high level of impact. It is likely that a period of uncertainty regarding the terms of Britain’s exit from the EU would deter students, staff and research partners from coming to us until alternative arrangements could be put in place. In addition, there is likely to be an effect on the UK’s longer-term attractiveness as international destination for students, staff and research funders from outside the EU, if it were not to be a member of the EU. While this is harder to forecast accurately it seems unlikely to enhance our position.
In closing, if the UK were to leave the EU, it would undoubtedly have a negative effect on the University of Southampton. In principle most of the benefits to us from EU membership could be replaced by other mechanisms, but this would take several years, and significant resources, and would not be guaranteed to work any better than the EU processes, which broadly work well and to our advantage. Regardless of the outcome, we are in for an interesting few months. In my opinion we should all hope that we vote to remain within the European Union and then increase our efforts nationally to work from within to address many of the legitimate concerns regarding its overall effectiveness.
Mark Spearing
Professor S Mark Spearing is Pro Vice Chancellor, International at the University of Southampton.
