A mercantilist approach to higher education post-Brexit
Michel Barnier, the European Union’s chief negotiator, used a noughts and crosses graphic to show what leaving the EU means under the terms of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA). For what now looks like a majority of Brits, according to a recent YouGov poll, it is not a pretty picture. But the government can consider it a triumph. It shows that, to borrow a phrase from David Cameron, it has made a bonfire of the regulations to get Brexit done.
In this context, it is easy to understand the relief in the United Kingdom’s research-strong universities and its specialised higher education sector that the UK will remain in the EU’s Horizon science and innovation programme, at least for the period 2021-27. The UK, now as a third country in EU terms, will have associated status. The price tag has still to be worked out, because the EU is reviewing the contribution of associated countries in general.