Sussex Vice Chancellor openly condemns Theresa May

Adam Tickell has warned that universities are in less safe and sympathetic hands under Theresa May’s government in his recent interview with the Brighton Argus.

The higher education sector is entering its first period of stalled growth in two decades, after losing David Cameron and George Osborne as “very strong advocates” for universities and science.

Speaking to The Argus, Professor Tickell said: “Philip Hammond and Theresa May just don’t have the same feel for the role universities can play, locally, nationally and internationally.”

The Sussex Vice Chancellor has warned of the negative impact that Brexit will have on the university. Eight per cent of Sussex students and twenty per cent of the university’s research funding come from the EU and the Vice Chancellor expressed concerns that these funds will become vulnerable due to Brexit.

Universities are already suffering as EU researchers and teaching staff are reluctant to work in the UK.  They don’t feel welcome and European grant panels are marking British applicants down, as the UK is no longer “part of the club.”

Experts are worried that graduate jobs for foreign students post-Brexit will be limited to Oxbridge and Russell Group grads.

Professor Tickell said: “They are talking about treating the best universities in a different way than how they treat other universities.

“We rank higher than 13 of the 24 Russell Group universities and so I think it would be impossible legally for the Government to have a rule which said Russell Group universities are exempt from the other rules.”