Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Threat to learning and our economy, warn universities
The leader of Canterbury’s biggest and most influential institution fears leaving the EU will be damaging for further education, jobs and quality of life.
Prof Dame Julia Goodfellow, vice-chancellor of the University of Kent, says the UK’S membership of the EU is crucial to the academic powerhouse, which has 15,000 students.
She said: “It improves academic experience and is fundamental to our science and research, which improves people’s lives.
“If we left the EU, we would be cutting ourselves off from unique support and networks and undermining the UK’S position as a global leader in science and innovation.”
About 11.5% of UKC students come from other European countries – substantially higher than the national average of 5% across the UK.
Prof Goodfellow said: “Leaving the union would leave us in unknown territory. It is not clear what the negotiations would allow if we left and we would be jeopardising the benefits to our students. From a local perspective, EU students contribute £420 million a year to the economy in Kent through on and off campus expenditure and, through this, EU students supported or created a total of 4,021 jobs in the region.
“As the UK’S European University, it is clear that our university is even stronger inside the EU and leaving would undoubtedly have a major impact not only on this institution but also on local jobs and the economy.”
Prof Goodfellow had earlier released a joint statement with the vice-chancellor of Canterbury Christ Church University, Prof Rama Thirunamachandran, in which they both expressed personal reservations about the consequences of no longer being a member state.
They said: “The leaders of the nation’s universities have made it clear that membership of the European Union is overwhelmingly in the interests of higher education.
“We train the scientists, nurses, teachers, lawyers, architects, pharmacists and other graduates upon which our nation’s prosperity depends.
“The union provides opportunities for our students and researchers to experience living and working in continental Europe.
“And it helps to bring European students to Kent and Medway, who in turn contribute to the local economy.”
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