Imperial is determined to grow its European and global connections after Brexit, President Alice Gast writes in the New York Times.

In a letter published today, Professor Gast said that “Brexit is creating uncertainty for British universities that is acutely felt by our European students and staff members. But our global vision remains clear.”

She was writing in response to a feature on the impact of Brexit on UK universities. 

“Imperial College London and other British universities are assertively campaigning in Westminster and Brussels for policies that support talent mobility and access to European research programs,” said Professor Gast.

She explained that Imperial’s European Partners Fund is supporting scores of Imperial academics’ European collaborations in fields like data privacy, particle physics and cancer prevention,” and that similar seed funds have been started with MIT in the US and Tsinghua University in China.

Professor Gast cited Imperial’s recent partnership with France’s CNRS to establish an international mathematics lab, UMI Abraham de Moivre, as one kind of collaboration that “should become more, not less, frequent,” even after Brexit. 

She added: “As an American academic in London, I was disappointed by the Brexit vote. Yet British universities’ commitment to their core values of internationalism and excellence gives us reason to be confident in their future.”

The full letter can be read at the New York Times.

_{NYT image credit: Wally Gobetz.}