Brexit: Our commitment to global engagement
Friday, 31 January 2020
Dear colleagues,
Today marks the UK’s formal departure from the European Union.
I would like to reiterate my personal commitment to ensuring that the University of Reading remains a globally engaged organisation. As a Dutch citizen myself, I have first-hand experience of student mobility and internationally collaborative research. I am convinced that these opportunities deliver significant benefits to individuals, institutions and, on a broader scale, whole nations.
One of the four core principles of our evolving institutional strategy is ‘Engaged University’, which emphasises how much we value working in partnership at a local, national and international level. This continues to be a fundamental part of our identity.
The Withdrawal Agreement sets out that there will be a post-Brexit transition period until 31 December 2020. This means we do not anticipate that there will be any immediate changes to the way we operate, especially given all of the mitigation work we have undertaken as outlined below. It has been confirmed that EU students currently enrolled at UK universities will continue to be eligible for Home fee status and student financial support for the duration of their course. We anticipate that the UK will also continue to participate in the Erasmus+ scheme until at least the end of the 2020/21 academic year unless a different arrangement is agreed at the end of the transition period.
To prepare for Brexit, colleagues across the University have been working hard to secure the best possible outcomes for our whole community. This includes liaising with our European partner institutions so we can continue to offer our students a range of exchange opportunities, as well as maintaining our research collaborations. We have also been supporting our eligible EU students and colleagues to apply for the EU Settlement Scheme and will continue to do so. On a practical level, we have been in contact with our European suppliers to ensure we can continue to access everything we need to run the University.
We have provided further information and frequently asked questions for staff and students on our website and the UK government have published information about travelling to Europe.
I look forward to continuing to work with you to maintain our commitment to global engagement and all the opportunities this affords our whole community.
Kind regards,
Robert
Professor Robert Van de Noort
Vice-Chancellor