In the past few weeks, immigration has been high on the agenda across the world. Despite the fact that nothing generally is set in stone, not even Trump’s Executive Order to ban targeted countries from US entry, the changing atmosphere of a city or country can make a difference to those thinking of moving and settling down somewhere.
In the UK, for example, while we know that the House of Commons vote in in Parliament last week does not mean EU citizens will inevitably be kicked out of the UK, it has led to many talented EU individuals feel insecure, uncomfortable, and unwelcome in the UK.
Of course, the sense of feeling safe and welcome in any country is an essential ingredient of it being attractive for global talent.
As it stands, while it is important for big industries to openly support their willingness to stay in the UK, it is equally important that the UK remains a place for young entrepreneurs and those wishing to start up and set up small businesses. Silicon Valley Bank recently released its UK Startup Outlook 2017 which looks at the ‘health of the innovation economy’ through asking ‘entrepreneurs to share what they are thinking about business conditions, access to capital and talent and the critical policy issues that help or hinder their success.’ The report finds that 32% of those surveyed feel a top issue for their business is the fact that their non-UK employees are burdened and concerned about their future in the UK.
Additionally, 17% revealed that they are committed to moving their headquarters out of the UK. This is a significant percentage. Although the UK remains open for business, the multicultural character of UK cities has always lured young and global talent to its shores. Indeed, we might not only be at risk of losing EU talent, but also UK talent who seek the melting pots of global talent for inspiration.
An article from LinkedIn warns employers to ‘act now’ so to prevent a talent drain. Based on research from their data of more than 3 million individuals, LinkedIn stated that their findings as ‘dramatic’, in that between May and July 2016 they saw the ‘number of global professionals seeking a job in the UK’ fall by 10%, with those looking to move from the EU fall by 18%:
We analysed the behaviour of more than 3.5 million LinkedIn users to see what effect there had already been on the attractiveness of UK jobs to recruits (British and international). Our data shows that the UK’s vote to leave the EU in June had an immediate negative impact on businesses’ ability to attract top international talent. At the same time, the most sought-after UK professionals are showing an increased interest in leaving the country to work abroad. As a result, UK employers face growing challenges in sourcing the talent that they need to compete effectively.
Meanwhile, Europe’s largest management consultancy has ‘warned against investing in Britain‘, suggesting that businesses are ‘underestimating the complexity’ of Brexit. The Chief Executive of Roland Berger advised companies to use UK ‘partner companies’ and it would be easier to ‘let it go’ should negotiations go wrong. Only days earlier, an executive board member for the German Central Bank ‘warned that London could lose its status as “gateway to Europe” for the banking sector after Britain quits the European trading bloc’.
Of course these predictions may well be hype, but creating a sense that individuals no longer feel at home or feel safe is real. We have yet to see what will happen once Article 50 is triggered, and negotiations start to take place. A recent publication by the Centre for Population Change (CPC), titled An audit of international student mobility to the UK, aptly pointed out:
While the effects of the 2016 Brexit vote have yet to manifest themselves on incoming student numbers, we suggest that changes to student visas, tuition fee increases and UK immigration policies have already contributed adversely to the profile of international student mobility to the UK. We anticipate that the migration rhetoric associated with Brexit will have even more profound effects (Stone, 2016; Viña 2016).
The changing landscape of global higher education has already in recent years led to other regions becoming significantly attractive alongside the UK, and so it is important to recognise that the anti-immigrant sentiment tied with the Brexit rhetoric could easily impact UK HE’s attractiveness for prospective students.