Oxford University in talks for a foreign campus
According to the Telegraph newspaper, Oxford University, UK, may break 700 years of tradition by establishing its first foreign campus in response to Brexit.
French officials met senior staff at Oxford last week and revealed new proposals that they hope would guarantee future EU funding for a satellite campus in Paris.
The Telegraph also reported that other universities, including Warwick, were approached with the idea to build a new base in Paris in 2018.
Oxford has been told that any campus opened in France could have French legal status and would continue to receive EU funding.
As part of the outlined plans, UK universities would ‘relocate’ degree courses and study programmes and create joint degrees and research laboratories.
Should Oxford and other leading institutions sign-off on the proposals, construction of the new Parisian campus would begin in 2018.
A spokesman for Oxford said no decision had yet been taken, but added: “Oxford has been an international university throughout its history and it is determined to remain open to the world whatever the future political landscape looks like.”
Jean-Michel Blanquer, the former director general of the French ministry for education, said that he was in the early stages of consultation with the European Commission, and had already met with officials from Oxford and the University of Warwick to discuss the proposals.
The commission, which oversees European higher education funding projects such as the Horizon 2020 programme, could ensure the continued access to funding and research collaboration.
A spokesman for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: “We have already taken steps to provide assurances by committing to underwrite Horizon 2020 grants bid for prior to the UK’s departure from the EU and put science and research at the heart of our Industrial Strategy with an extra £2bn (~€2.3bn) investment per year – and will seek agreement to continue to collaborate with our European partners on major science, research and technology initiatives.”
