Britain has voted to leave the European Union. People will have many questions about what this means for globally-networked universities such as ours, but it is important to remember that changes will not happen overnight.
Much of our work continues as it did before. The vote to leave the EU does not mean there will be any immediate material change to the UK university sector’s participation in EU programmes such as Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+, nor to the immigration status of current and prospective EU students and staff.
Our applicants from the EU might be unsure of the implications of this result. All our current and future students can be assured that Lancaster is a welcoming community that includes students from 142 countries and this will not change.
The process of withdrawing from the EU is expected to take considerable time to plan and implement. I can confirm that Lancaster has no plans to change the tuition fees for EU students that have already been published for 2016/17. EU students who are registered at the university in 2016/17 (either as a new or continuing student) will continue to be charged the home rate for tuition fees for all subsequent years of their programme. As further details become available, we will publish information on our fees website.
Throughout the transition period, Lancaster will work with other universities to focus on securing support that allows our universities to continue to be global in their outlook, internationally networked and an attractive destination for talented people from across the world and especially Europe.
A key priority will be to convince the UK Government to take steps to ensure that staff and students from EU countries can continue to work and study at British universities and to promote the UK as a welcoming destination for the brightest and best minds.
Professor Mark E. Smith, Vice-Chancellor
Lancaster University