Meeting of the Parliament 04 October 2016
All that I heard was either about renegotiating our way back into programmes that we are in or about describing the international collaboration that we are doing. Where is the upside? I have yet to hear it.
If we look at the numbers, the impact of Brexit on our universities is very clear. At the University of Edinburgh alone, 10 per cent of its research funding comes from the EU, which is worth £23 million—a quarter of the Scottish funding total. It has 91 horizon 2020 projects worth €77.8 million, and 30 per cent of its research is co-authored with other EU institutions.
A number of members have mentioned the possibility—albeit that it has been anecdotal—of our researchers being asked not to take a lead on research projects. That is not an issue just because they like having their name at the top of the paper: academic work is built on reputation, and if the University of Edinburgh does not get the credit for its groundbreaking work, whether in wi-fi technology or genetics, other institutions will get that credit and be able to build their reputations.
This is not just a funding issue—universities are about people. The fundamental process of our universities is in taking the knowledge that our academics possess and passing it on to our students. When we consider that 14 per cent of University of Edinburgh students come from other parts of the EU, one can see the seriousness of the problem. One third of the students are doing science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects, which we know are so important to our economy.
The problem is even starker when we look at staffing numbers: almost 2,500 University of Edinburgh staff come from the EU. Of academic staff, 25 per cent are from the EU. We have a context of uncertainty and insecurity because of the visa system that the UK Government has imposed.