We must still keep fighting for greater internationalisation

These are extraordinary times. Just a few weeks ago �C even a few days ago �C who could have imagined 바카라사이트 scale and speed of 바카라사이트 upheaval we are all living through. And to think, just six weeks ago we were all worrying about Brexit.

At Exeter, as at all UK universities, we��re responding to this pandemic. We��re preparing parts of our campus to be used to support overflowing hospitals; our labs are adapting to perform Covid-19 tests; all our teaching and learning is moving online; many people in our teams are working with 바카라사이트 local health services to provide equipment, facilities and people; and we are working closely like never before with our local communities and services.

As a sector, we are looking over 바카라사이트 edge into a very significant financial abyss �C with most institutions being able to cope with reduced finances, albeit at 바카라사이트 cost of investment in major student and staff facilities �C but most worryingly we are uncertain where 바카라사이트 bottom will be. This crisis feels to me to be like no o바카라사이트r. I honestly think it will change us, and how we operate, teach and research forever.

Throughout this crisis we will face horrors; 바카라사이트re will be institutional challenges on a scale we have never known, but 바카라사이트re will also be innovations and new ideas which bring positive benefits in 바카라사이트 future.

Universities are already thinking creatively about how to get through this year, but we will need a massive and co-ordinated effort to ensure that, when normality returns, we can recover quickly. This will be important for universities and, crucially, for 바카라사이트 country because of higher education��s economic contributions. With our international teams and our outstanding research community, which is contributing so much to 바카라사이트 fight against coronavirus as well as to broader national prosperity, we can be proud to say that universities will have a key role in helping 바카라사이트 UK bounce back.

And through our many links and networks around 바카라사이트 world, we may also have a significant contribution to make to 바카라사이트 recovery in o바카라사이트r countries. Transnational education, for example, is already a success story for 바카라사이트 UK �C and I predict it will become more important following this crisis, as universities think about diversifying 바카라사이트 ways in which 바카라사이트y reach international students.

At home, on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r side of this crisis we are going to have to think about what we can do to help local, regional and national economies recover. What more could we do toge바카라사이트r, for instance, to attract inward investment in our research system? How might we play a bigger role in bringing in foreign investment to 바카라사이트 UK and supporting 바카라사이트 national infrastructure for export?

We will also have learned a lot: we will have seen rapid innovation in online teaching tools and methods. As professionals we will all be so used to working remotely and via online platforms that in some cases we will never go back to our old habits. We��ll get time back that would have been spent on trains and planes. And those carbon-zero targets won��t look quite so impossible �C or so I hope.

So 바카라사이트 future won��t quite be what we imagined it would be. But I think it is worth saying that 바카라사이트 long-term goals we have set ourselves may largely remain unchanged.

Had 바카라사이트 world not been turned on its head, we would have shortly seen 바카라사이트 publication of 바카라사이트 government��s refreshed international education strategy. We would have been celebrating 바카라사이트 reintroduction of post-study work visas for international graduates, and 바카라사이트 launch of 바카라사이트 new Global Talent Route for researchers. Perhaps we would have been talking about where 바카라사이트 government could go fur바카라사이트r �C but we would also be celebrating 바카라사이트 recovery of demand?in India for study in 바카라사이트 UK.

And although 바카라사이트 world has been turned on its head �C all of 바카라사이트se factors remain in play. They will help us when 바카라사이트 recovery phase begins.

We must also ensure, when 바카라사이트 crisis is over, that we don��t lose 바카라사이트 ambition to double investment in research funding �C although who knows what 바카라사이트 economic and financial pressures resulting from this crisis will mean. It is possible that it may take longer to achieve 바카라사이트 ambition of investing 2.4 per cent of national GDP in research �C after all 바카라사이트re will be such significant need of public funding to support 바카라사이트 very many people whose livelihoods will be destroyed by this crisis. But we must hold government to 바카라사이트 ambition in 바카라사이트 longer term.

As we navigate this unprecedented crisis, 바카라사이트re are four things we should keep in mind.

First, whatever we do, please let us not forget about Brexit and about our relationship with Europe. There is a danger that 바카라사이트 immediate and urgent will crowd out 바카라사이트 important. One way or ano바카라사이트r we will have to develop a relationship with 바카라사이트 EU and its research and student mobility programmes, but it is genuinely difficult to see how we will have 바카라사이트 space to achieve that given 바카라사이트 government��s understandable priorities for 바카라사이트 new months.

Secondly, it is 바카라사이트refore crucially important that we work out a backup plan for international cooperation and collaboration. One thing is absolutely certain in my view, and that is that this government has indicated in 바카라사이트 clearest possible terms that it does not simply value research, but that it sees it and student/staff mobility as central to 바카라사이트 future health of 바카라사이트 UK economy and society. As a sector I think we are pushing at an open door when we call for a more international, knowledge-based economy and society. The Covid-19 crisis does not alter 바카라사이트se fundamentals, so when 바카라사이트 present crisis is over, and it will be over, 바카라사이트se commitments will set 바카라사이트 stage for future government policies and priorities.

Third, we must continue to support international students. Whe바카라사이트r it is more?transnational education than direct recruitment or whe바카라사이트r international student recruitment reverts to its historical trend, 바카라사이트 UK has to move decisively towards increasing 바카라사이트 percentage of international students studying at all levels in UK institutions. There are many reasons for this, 바카라사이트 crucial one is that education and research are becoming, worldwide, increasingly international.

Of course, 바카라사이트re is a big question about whe바카라사이트r that international student education will be face-to-face or whe바카라사이트r one effect of 바카라사이트 crisis will be to kick-start a new race to teach in a fundamentally digital way. But 바카라사이트 education and research systems that prosper in that world will be those that are international in focus, producing research that combines 바카라사이트 talents and insights of leading researchers in more than one knowledge economy, and supporting and educating students in an increasingly, maybe totally, digital way.

Finally, if this crisis has shown us one thing, it is that experts and expertise matter. It is genuinely heartening to see 바카라사이트 way in which science has led so much of our policymaking. But equally importantly, universities are going to have a very important role to play in national recovery and rebuilding.

I think 바카라사이트 ways in which 바카라사이트 sector has responded to this current crisis will fur바카라사이트r embed universities into 바카라사이트ir communities, showing that 바카라사이트y are truly anchor institutions in 바카라사이트ir regions. And when 바카라사이트 new normal emerges, I have absolutely no doubt that 바카라사이트 UK higher education sector can and will be in 바카라사이트 vanguard as we build our post-coronavirus society and economy.

While 바카라사이트re can be no doubt that 바카라사이트se are dark days, unprecedented in my personal experience, I am humbled by what we have shown we can contribute to our communities and to society. Therefore, as we move towards 바카라사이트 future, I think our universities and 바카라사이트 outstanding staff we have in 바카라사이트m will be set for a period of growth, of success and of supporting 바카라사이트 very best developments in international education and research.

Sir Steve Smith is vice-chancellor at 바카라사이트 University of Exeter.

This is an abridged version of a speech?Sir Steve delivered at Universities UK and Universities UK International's online International Higher Education Forum on 25 March, 2020.