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New buildings, equipment, conferences, academic travel, and a couple of bottles of
wine for the postgraduate seminar all appeared when needed.
Finally, we benefit enormously from the incredible openness of the UK academic job
market. Although we can't quite match football's Premier League, even small
departments will typically have several overseas players in their squad. Compare this
to almost all other European countries, where the tradition is to appoint locals, often
groomed for the job. An international recruitment strategy widens the talent pool, and
allows a department to develop in new and unexpected ways. But it also creates
opportunities for international connections, which in turn generate energy, intellectual
stimulation and a sense of going places.
So that was my story. I've just received a follow-up email, asking me if the UK will
be able to sustain its European pre-eminence given recent government policy. Well, I
didn't take this question seriously, until I started to think about it. Luckily we still
speak English. But then so do European academics, and they are increasingly
choosing to publish, and even teach, in English, too. We still assess research, but
other countries have copied us here as well.
And, what's more worrying, money and international recruitment are under pressure.
In anticipation of big financial cuts to come, "adjustments" are being made here and
there. That little bit of cash lubricating the system, making small but highly valuable
things possible, has disappeared. Like sensitive children, we no longer ask, for fear of
disappointment and mutual embarrassment. And the government's promise to "get
tough" on immigration has repercussions for international staff recruitment. The
number of work permits is being limited, and what was already a drawn-out and
nerve-racking process may well just become more trouble than it is worth.
Could it be that our super-power status is under threat? As continental Europe tries to
bring about economic growth by investing heavily in higher education, we are
dimming the lights and shutting the doors. We just have to hope that our effortless
superiority carries us through. (The Guardian)
