Leading scholars at vanguard of UK’s post-Brexit brain drain

Brexit has made it harder for UK universities to attract and retain talented academics, particularly younger ones, according to new research.

A paper published in the International Journal of Higher Education Research, which used salaries as a measure of researchers’ quality, finds that since the UK voted to leave the European Union in 2016 the country has on average attracted scholars of lower quality and has found it harder to retain the best ones.

“This happens especially among younger cohorts, and if they come from countries that perform better in GDP per capita, R&D investment, but also national ranking in tolerance and creative class scores,” writes author Giulio Marini, senior assistant professor in the University of Catania’s department of economics and business.

“Overall, Brexit is detrimental to the UK in relation to attraction of talents, cutting through a long-term pattern of success.”

The paper’s findings corroborate the idea that being “client” rather than “partner” of EU institutions has left the UK in a worse place.

According to the research, universities have recruited international staff predominantly from non-EU countries, as well as from mostly from ones outside the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. It also raises concerns about the “double-edged sword” of relying increasingly on Chinese academics, who might opt to leave and take their talents home.

“None of these effects seem to be coherent with heralded post-referendum Global Britain, confirming instead a weakening position,” the paper concludes.

Latest data suggest that more UK academic staff came from outside the EU than from inside it in 2022, for the first time in recent years. There have been particularly large falls in the number of scholars from research powerhouses such as Germany, France and the Netherlands working in the UK.

Dr Marini said the best universities would probably not suffer too much in attracting talent, but he is concerned about middle- and lower-ranked institutions if international students begin to lose their belief that “any university in the UK is at least fairly good”.

“At a certain point, such a belief might not be a given,” he said. “That would impinge what the UK system is based on: foreign fee-paying students.”

There are many ways the sector could reverse the trend, including specific doctoral schemes and bilateral agreements, said Dr Marini, but the results would not come close to matching the benefits of being inside the EU.

“It will arguably be a matter of lessening the deficit from the pre-Brexit situation. Yet I suspect talent attraction will be a luxury for the few institutions that are already excellent, not for the many.”

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com