Brexit geographies of transnational education: uncertainty, ‘global Britain’ and European (re-)integration

Abstract

Higher education in the UK constitutes an important (export) sector that depends on mobilities of capital, labour and students. This article contributes to 'Brexit geographies' by exploring how the economic geographies of British transnational education are reconfigured during uncertainty over Brexit through spatial strategies of universities. Based on qualitative research and in-depth interviews with decisionmakers in higher education in the UK, it maps the investments and analyses the rationales, narratives and spatial imaginaries motivating the construction of universities' physical presences abroad. Decisionmakers' imagined futures for UK universities, first, reveal a linking to discourses of 'Global Britain' and, second, efforts towards European (re-)integration through campus development in European Union territory. The latter is intended by some to ameliorate risks of regulatory changes and provide an 'insurance policy' against the anticipated financial consequences of Brexit. However, the resulting geographies of risk and vulnerability are unevenly distributed and seem likely to increase the hierarchically structured (economic) geographies of higher education.

The global division of labour as enduring archipelago: thinking through the spatiality of ‘globalisation in reverse’

“…Following the renewed salience of the EU-UK border, firms have started to re-evaluate the division of labour between UK-based subsidiaries and the European mainland (Fuller, 2021). The financial sector has relocated activities to the EU in order to be able to continue their operations (Heneghan and Hall, 2021), as have several British universities (Kleibert, 2020). Global value chains, while heavily affected by the new regulations, do not cease to exist but morph into new forms and in-and exclude different territories.…”

Limits to growth? Key enrolment trends for UK transnational higher education, 2002–2021

“…A survey conducted in late 2020 of senior UK university managers responsible for international education reported that half thought that they were likely to expand TNE in response to the pandemic (Universities UK, 2020). Similarly, four out of 12 university managers who were interviewed about their likely offshore campus strategies in the EU post Brexit stated that they planned to establish or expand OBC provision (Leibert, 2020 ). The pandemic is also seen as providing a major stimulus to ODL with some countries relaxing online regulations in response to the pandemic most notably China.…”

“… 8 A few articles discuss the possible impacts of Brexit on offshore enrolment but provide no hard data (see Courtois and Veiga 2020 and Leibert 2020 ). Only one article could be located on the impact of Covid on offshore provision in a developing country, namely Vietnam.…”