Higher education and research: report of the hearing held on 8 December, 2015

This is a report of the hearing that took place on Tuesday 8th December 2015 from 1730 to 2000hrs. This was the second session in the series of the ‘LSE Commission on the Future of Britain in Europe’. Respected practitioners and experts in higher education and research took up our invitation to participate in the hearing to discuss the risks of a Brexit and how universities might act at this important moment in British life. Participants included those with high level and/or frontline experience of academia and research, of EU programmes in research and higher education mobility, and experience within the British and EU political spheres. Among them were former vice chancellors, a representative of the National Union of Students, directors of EU-related research programmes in science and the social sciences, prominent researchers in European studies, economics and regulation, and those whose prime responsibility is in university academic development. Also present were senior scientists who have been leading the commercialisation of EU knowledge and innovation projects, leaders of policy think-tanks across a spectrum of political opinion, and senior journalists in the sector. The hearing had one introductory presentation to fill an information gap. A senior official from the European Commission of the higher education policy unit of the Directorate General Education and Culture outlined what the European Commission can do under the EU Treaty to stimulate quality in higher education in conjunction with support for the Bologna Process. We are very grateful for the expert contributions made in the session and additional papers submitted to the hearing by participants and non-participants. We have adopted the ‘Chatham House’ rule of not attributing comments to individuals at the hearing, unless they are on record through contributions to the LSE BrexitVote blog. Marion Osborne and David Spence provided organisational support. Trenton Marlar, MSc student, assisted at the hearing and in the preparation of the report. My colleague, Linda Hantrais, made helpful comments on the first draft of the text. Any errors are my own