Liberal Democrats warn of ‘Brexit brain drain’ for universities

Party says Brexit vote is behind rising number of EU academics leaving UK universities

A “Brexit brain drain” means the number of academics from the European Union leaving UK universities hit a five-year high in the last academic year, according to the Liberal Democrats. However, data shows the overall number of EU citizens working in universities has increased.

A total of 81 universities responded to the Lib Dem’s Freedom of Information request, which showed that 4,014 academics from the EU left UK universities in 2018-19, the largest cohort in a dataset stretching back to 2014-15. It represents a 31 per cent rise on the 3,051 who quit before the Brexit vote in 2015-16.