Description
With Brexit, there were a preoccupation within Higher Education (HE) institutions regarding the future of research collaborations and the new funding frameworks. During the negotiation period, discussions within the political elite were focused on the economy, trade and future political alliances but not centred on the HE sector. However, the 2021 UK Government's foreign policy strategy of delivering international ambition as a Global Britain also included education.
We argue that international education has been a foreign policy priority after Brexit. This paper looks into the importance of research cooperation between EU and other UK-based academics in the HE institutions. The literature focuses on the mobility of students and industry careers in general. There is a lack of research linking mobility and academic career choices in the UK HE, which is the aim of this paper.
Tracing the influence of Brexit on UK HE through the lens of 3 EU case studies – France, Poland and Portugal – semi-structured interviews built on purposive sampling are conducted with academics that are currently based in the UK. We claim that Brexit operated as a disruptive phase of uncertainty in the UK HE, particularly for academics with research-centred careers.
