EU referendum result: Chartered ABS response

BrexitPolicy

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24 June, 2016

In light of the EU referendum result we will watch with interest the impact on areas of concern for our member business schools. We will lobby government to ensure the best possible outcome for our members should Britain’s exit from the European Union affect the following areas:

  • European research funding – between 2010 and 2014 research funding for business schools from European sources increased by 166%. Funding from European government bodies increased by 22%. It is a growing and important source of research funding. We want to ensure that the government helps university research funding to remain stable.
  • Student recruitment from both EU and non-EU countries – recent surveys suggest that both EU and non-EU students would find the UK a less attractive place to study should the UK leave the EU. International students are important to the culture of university campuses and critical to university finances. We must do all we can to promote the merits of a UK higher education.
  • Student visas – we will be interested to see if the government takes a position on student visa requirements for EU students. A change in visa policy for EU students would likely have an impact on business schools’ ability to recruit students, such as we have already seen following the reform of the post-study work visas for non-EU students.
  • Faculty and staff mobility – HESA data shows that 13% of academic business school staff are EU nationals. We also want to ensure that our business schools are able to continue to attract and retain the best global talent to teach and undertake research in the UK.

We will work with our members and with colleagues in BIS and the Home Office to ensure the views of UK business schools are heard and considered. British business schools are hugely significant to the UK’s higher education sector and we will be working hard to ensure British business schools remain some of the best in the world.