BRITAIN’S BREXIT BRAIN DRAIN BONUS FOR CANADA
Universities see surge in ‘stellar’ U.K. applicants
When British Prime Minister Theresa May formally set in motion her country’s departure from the EU, the move underscored what could be a surprising windfall for some Canadian universities.
At least two major institutions say last year’s Brexit vote in the U.K. prompted a number of “stellar” academics to ask for jobs here, worried that Britain’s research and social climate is deteriorating.
Recruitment deals for some are likely to be consummated in the next few weeks, while a similar phenomenon has seen top American scholars reach out to Canadian universities, too, they say.
“The level of interest from outside of the country is probably unprecedented,” said Meric Gertler, president of the University of Toronto.
“It is across many different disciplines and across the demographic spectrum: post-docs and junior faculty right through to mid-career, to truly established stars who want to move here.”
At the University of Waterloo, a number of high-level university scholars — mostly in math, engineering and science — contacted administrators shortly after the U.K. voted to leave the European Community last June.
Feridun Hamdullahpur, the university’s president, said he could not reveal identities but three major catches are in the final stages of negotiating contracts, the first likely to be announced within a week or two.
He described them as “stellar researchers,” at least as good as those typically awarded federally funded Canada Research Chairs.
“These are very senior, top-level academic colleagues who have contacted us … to say that they were very interested in moving to Canada, moving to the University of Waterloo, right after the Brexit vote,” said Hamdullahpur.
“They cited several reasons why they were doing this, but they said that Canada would be a better place for them to raise their families, and also continue their academic careers.”
Much has been said about the surge in foreign students applying to Canadian schools in the wake of Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. election, but the recruitment of top-notch and otherwise hard-to-woo faculty could have a much more lasting impact.
U of T has always recruited a sizable chunk of its faculty from outside the country, but at a recent meeting of 100 or so department heads, Gertler asked how many had received unsolicited overtures about moving here from foreign professors recently. Threequarters shot up their hands.
A number of resulting recruitment deals are in the pipeline, with announcements expected before the end of May, he said.
“The non-Canadians who are most keen to come here are folks who immigrated to the U.S. or the U.K. from elsewhere and no longer feel quite as comfortable.” he said.
The British academics who have approached Toronto have also cited the all-important availability of research funding. U.K. universities won a disproportionate total of the research grants issued by the EU, and stand to lose hundreds of millions of pounds because of Brexit, Gertler said.
Not all universities seem to be benefiting from a Brexit/Trump faculty influx.
Spokesmen for both Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., and the University of British Columbia said they had no evidence of a recruitment bump, while McGill University failed to respond to requests for comment.
Waterloo’s Hamdullahpur acknowledged that it will likely prove to be a shortterm phenomenon.
“We cannot ride on this for too long,” he said. “This is just a momentary thing. Our focus should be long term and how we will build our base of excellence so we will be able to attract the best and brightest all the time.”