Leave universities alone

BRITISH universities have flourished by respecting expertise, fostering European links and welcoming foreigners here to study. It should not come as a huge surprise, therefore, that many academics have major reservations about the impact of Brexit. After all, it is Brexiteers, who tell us we’ve had enough of these experts, who seek to break ties with Europe and who want to restrict the numbers of overseas students in the country.

You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist, or the chancellor of one of our great universities, to be suspicious of the efforts of one leading Brexiteer in the Government whip’s office to collect information on those in higher education who lecture on European studies. It was the universities minister himself, Jo Johnson, who reacted immediately with a statement reminding his ministerial colleague that “academic freedom is absolutely fundamental”. He was right to do so.

But the Brexit camp won’t leave it at that. Its tribunes are now busy rummaging around trying to prove that there were university lecturers and academics among the 16 million people who voted to remain. One Brexit MP complained yesterday that their child was handed some literature by a professor that questioned the merits of leaving the EU. Shock, horror! Surely our academic institutions are there to question, challenge and inquire? Long may they continue to do so.