Brexit: The challenges that lie ahead for UK universities

These are highly uncertain times for UK universities. It’s an unenviable position to be in, to borrow a phrase from Prime Minister Theresa May, as the nation’s higher education sector finds itself in a noose as Britain races to exit the European Union with no shortage of chaos.The deadline is 11pm London time on March 29. It’s now less than a week away but explanations are scarce, fueling alarm on several fronts, from British farmers being priced out of the export market, to business feeling its least optimistic since 2008 and more tumbling of the British currency.Higher education is not immune to this, with the crisis leaving several marks on the sector as soon as the results of the 2016 European Union referendum were announced. Valuable human capital – students, researchers and faculty from the EU – found themselves the most vulnerable, with jobs and immigration status on the line, to name just a few grievances. Research projects across UK universities are equally as exposed, many of which are funded by Brussels. More than 40 UK universities depend on EU funding for more than 20 percent of their research income.