"Universities and Europe: why EU membership and reform matter"
Speakers
- Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow DBE, Vice-Chancellor, University of Kent and President, Universities UK
- Neil Carmichael, MP for Stroud, Chair, Conservative Europe Group and Chair, Education Select Committee
- Pawel Swidlicki, Policy Analyst, Open Europe
Professor Dame Julia Goodfellow described why she felt that university leaders shouldn’t be bystanders in the EU Referendum debate. She set out how as president of the representative organisation for the UK’s universities it was her expectation that university campuses should be places for debate and that academics would provide expertise to all sides.
She made it clear that she felt there was need for reform, and how recognising the benefits of EU membership does not exclude wanting to push for reforms to make it work better. However for the UK to have a significant say in EU reform, she believed that the UK must commit to a future in the EU, and should play a leadership role in making the EU more efficient and effective.
Professor Goodfellow described specific examples of how she felt EU membership worked well for UK universities. She named examples in research impact such as EuroCoord, an EU backed network established by several of the biggest HIV research projects in Europe. It improves the lives of individuals infected with HIV. A pan-European network, with 25 partners from across the world, it allows British universities to conduct research on an amazing wealth of international data and to pool expertise and resource with excellent scientists across Europe to achieve medical advances that wouldn’t otherwise be possible.
She also described how membership enhances the student experience, noting that 15% of academic staff at UK universities are from other EU countries and over 125,000 EU students are currently studying at UK universities. These students help to foster an international, outward-looking culture on university campuses which in turn provides British students with an international university experience preparing them for an ever more globalised world.
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