Brexit vote 'could cost UK colleges millions of pounds'

The head of the UK university with the most students from the European Union (EU) has warned that if Britain votes to leave Europe, the country would lose tens of millions of pounds in fees from European students.

Prof Michael Arthur, president of University College London (UCL), which has 4,500 students from the EU, told the Guardian on Friday that his university and other universities will lose a large proportion of EU undergraduates if the UK votes to leave the EU.

“We simply don’t know at this point what Brexit would mean,” said Arthur. “It’s difficult to imagine a government that’s just exited from Europe wishing to continue the loan scheme [for EU students].”

“If we have 2,000 undergraduates that now no longer have access to a loan system in the UK to come here and study, then the choice is either to pay full international fees without a loan scheme or to go to university in their own country,” he stated.

“In many of their own countries it’s a lower fee, or free. There’s a huge difference between staying in the Netherlands and paying nothing, to coming to the UK and paying full international fees,” he noted.

“It’s my view that we will lose a significant proportion of the undergraduates, and that could be quite negative,” he pointed out.

Students confirm Arthur’s concerns

Several EU students studying in British universities also confirmed Arthur’s concerns.

Many students told the Guardian they would not have come to Britain had they not had access to the good terms available to them as fellow EU citizens. Some said they would be prevented by additional bureaucratic measure that would possibly result from a Brexit vote.

“It will most certainly stop me from engaging in any postgraduate study in the UK,” said a 22-year-old Italian in the second year of an archaeology degree at a Russell Group university who had hoped to continue his studies here.

“I will not associate myself with any country in Europe that does not recognize the importance of a united continent. If the referendum fails to keep the UK in Europe, despite my love for its academic institutions I will gladly move elsewhere.”

Britain will vote on June 23 on the significant issue of whether it should stay in the EU. The decision has far-reaching consequences for both the country and the bloc.

Membership of the European Union has been a controversial issue in the UK since the country joined the then European Economic Community in 1973.

Those in favor of a British withdrawal from the EU argue that outside the bloc, London would be better positioned to conduct its own trade negotiations, better able to control immigration and free from what they believe to be excessive EU regulations and bureaucracy.

Those in favor of remaining in the bloc argue that leaving it would risk the UK's prosperity, diminish its influence over world affairs, and result in trade barriers between the UK and the EU.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently said that there were no economic benefits for the UK to leave the EU, while the Bank of England has warned that the country’s economy would slow sharply, and possibly even enter a short recession.

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