This chapter looked at the implications of Brexit on the recruitment of international faculty, students, and the ability to obtain research funding. Higher education stakeholders have legitimate concerns regarding the impact of the UK's separation from the EU. In preemptive moves, students are transferring to institutions outside the UK and EU to universities that are welcoming and accommodating the special needs and circumstances of international scholars. Researchers are prematurely dissolving collaborative partnerships with colleagues to mitigate complications and lost funding expected, as a result of Brexit. There are universities exploring possible locations for new satellite campuses in other countries. Through the development of policies and treaties such as the Bologna Process, Lisbon Strategy, European Higher Education in the World initiative, the European Union has demonstrated the importance and purpose of higher education both in Europe and at the international level.
TopBackground
The UK (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales) located off the northwestern coast of mainland Europe, was an independent country in Western Europe from May 1, 1707 until December 31, 1800 (United Kingdom National Archives, 2018). The Treaty of Union of 1706 authorized by the Acts of Union 1707 (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2018; Hanham, 2017), united the domains of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales to form a single kingdom incorporating the island of Great Britain and its neighboring islands, with the exception of the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands (United Kingdom National Archives, 2018). The ratification did not include Ireland, which remained a separate republic (United Kingdom National Archives, 2018).
The United Kingdom and Northern Ireland is a monarchy led by Queen Elizabeth II since her rise to the throne February 6, 1952, after the death of her father, King George VI (Johnson, 2018). Elizabeth, at the age of 26, became Queen of seven countries: Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Ceylon (known today as Sri Lanka) (Johnson, 2018). The UK is governed by a parliamentary democracy system consisting of the House of Commons and the House of Lords (Johnson, 2018). Since the 1920s, the UK has been guided by two dominant political parties: the Conservative Party and the Labour Party (Johnson, 2018).
After World War II, the EU formed consortiums, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Economic Community (EEC), in an effort towards economic and political integration (McBride, 2017). In the 1970s, the UK appeared to have second thoughts, and became a hesitant member of the EEC, spurring critics to have suspicions that the group was moving beyond economic integration and attempting to form a “superstate” (McBride, 2017). Although the UK became part of the EEC, it elected not to join the common currency or the Schengen area, an agreement between 26 European countries that officially abolished passport and other types of control at their mutual borders (Schengen, 2017). Eventually, the UK successfully negotiated a reduction of its budget contribution to the EEC (McBride, 2017), and during the 1980s and 1990s, the UK began pressing the consortium for opt-out considerations as well (McBride, 2017).