The Brexit White Paper: what does it mean for higher education and research?

While Theresa May pledged that “the days of sending vast sums of money to the EU” are over, the UK is still very much under the illusion that the days of receiving large amounts of EU money in specific sectors are not. Hopes of an early deal allowing UK universities to remain among the highest beneficiaries of EU research funding programmes are vanishing quickly. The UK is holding on to its red lines – such as ending free movement and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) – and British officials are still publicly debating the possibility of the UK backtracking on the ‘divorce bill’ without securing a trade deal. With less than three months to go before both sides hope to achieve an agreement in October 2018, the government’s recent White Paper offered a twofold opportunity: first, to set out its post-Brexit position for higher education and research; and, second, to present the outcome of two years of negotiations. While the White Paper embraced future collaboration with EU partners, it fell short of the second objective, lacking detail and remaining non-committal in terms of the partnership status the government seeks to obtain.