On 27 July, Universities UK launched a campaign to prevent a dreaded ‘Brexit’ which would severely limit EU funding for British universities and researchers. The campaign, titled Universities for Europe, was launched at an event at the University College of London (UCL).  Over the coming months, it will present powerful evidence on the benefits of EU membership for the higher education sector and British society as a whole. 

Prime Minister David Cameron is planning to hold a referendum on the UK’s continued membership of the European Union as early as June 2016 (see ACA Newsletter – Education Europe, ERC’s flagship advanced grants in 2014. 

Yet the positives do not tell the whole story, and in order to build a truly compelling case for staying in the Union, Universities for Europe will need to show how the benefits EU membership actually outweigh the (not inconsiderable) costs. It should not be too hard.