Higher education must be a focus of talks on Brexit

ONCE the UK leaves the European Union, then Ireland will be the only native English-speaking member of the EU, apart from tiny Malta. This will provide a unique opportunity for our higher-educational institutions to recruit quality researchers, academics and students.

But to leverage that opportunity, our system needs to be properly funded, which all sides agree it is not at present.

A British Irish Chamber of Commerce policy paper has recommended that higher education and research should be formally listed on the Government’s agenda in any Brexit discussions – and this recommendation makes perfect sense.

But while exploiting the Brexit opportunity, the Government should do all it can to retain the existing deep links between higher-educational institutions on these islands.

UK universities last year received more than £1bn (€1.12bn) in research grants and contracts from EU sources – many of these UK-led research projects involved collaboration with Irish universities.

There are also about 13,000 students from Ireland currently studying in the UK.

There are flows in the opposite direction, with about 2,500 coming here from the UK. That mobility is threatened by a hard Brexit.

Higher education and research need close attention in the Brexit talks.