10.15166/2499-8249/271
https://www.europeanpapers.eu/en/e-journal/european-higher-education-context-brexit
2499-8249
Garben, Sacha
Sacha
Garben
College of Europe
European Higher Education in the Context of Brexit
European Papers (www.europeanpapers.eu)
2019
Brexit
EHEA
Bologna Process
ERA
student mobility
diploma recognition
2019-02-08
Research Centre for European Law, Unitelma Sapienza - University of Rome
eng
Article
text/html
PDF
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License
European Papers - A Journal on Law and Integration, 2018 3(3), 1293-1317
I. Introduction. - II. European higher education law and policy. - II.1. The Bologna Process and the EHEA. - II.2. The EU and its higher education law and policy. - III. The UK and European higher education law and policy. - III.1. The UK and the Bologna Process. - III.2. The UK and EU higher education and policy. - IV. The implications of, and on, Brexit. - V. Conclusion.
The UK has been a main "winner" in European higher education. In the European Higher Education Area, the UK has successfully exported its higher education model to the other EU Member States and beyond, without conceding powers to the EU in that regard. It reaped the benefits of an enlarged higher education "market" on which its higher education institutions could successfully compete, at minimal administrative, political or other cost. Furthermore, in EU higher education law and policy, the UK has occupied an equally advantageous position. The UK has been very successful in obtaining EU research funding. This could potentially be linked to its brain-gain in being a major net importer of mobile EU students, researchers and academics. At the same time, because of its fee-paying model, this imported talent has come at a very low cost, as EU law on student mobility and diploma recognition has worked mainly to the benefit of the UK model by requiring equal treatment as regards tuition fees but not maintenance grants. This Article explores the impact that Brexit may have on European higher education and the UK's position within it, and vice-versa. It will argue that the UK's current strength in higher education may be one of its weak spots in the Brexit negotiations.