Projects on hold at UHI due to fears over funding
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THE University of the Highlands and Islands is being forced to put major projects on hold over fears about what effect Brexit could have on future funding.
The warning came last week from UHI’s director of European and international development, Linda Stewart, who said EU funding sat "right at the heart" of everything the university did.
The EU Commission says Scotland as a whole saw scientific research supported to the tune of more than 700 million euros from 2007-2013, with a further 300 million euros since then.
The Highlands have benefited because of the way EU structural funds in particular are weighted in favour of what it regards as disadvantaged areas.
Loss of that funding, Mrs Stewart said, would have a huge impact on UHI’s scientific research in particular as well as both undergraduate and postgraduate study options.
While Westminster has confirmed support for European-enabled projects, even when they continue beyond the end of Britain’s EU membership, it is the lack of guarantee about exactly how long that support will continue which is forcing a UHI rethink, she added.
"A lot of projects require really long-term stability and certainty before you embark on them," she said. "For example, when we’re looking at extending our range of undergraduate and postgraduate study options, we need to know that the funding will be there to take people through three-and-a-half to four years of study.
"Funding has been confirmed for some of the work we’re doing until the end of 2018, but it would just be morally wrong to start students on a course we don’t actually know we’ll be able to run through until the end."
She said research work on renewable marine energy and rural healthcare provisionwas also endangered, the former project being once which sees the UHI "on the brink" of collaborating with some of the world’s leading higher education institutions.
"One of the most touching things for us in the first couple of days and weeks after the referendum vote was the number of our European partners who got in touch to say how sorry they were and asking if there was any way we can keep working together," Mrs Stewart said.
"However, there is also anecdotal evidence of projects that were under development where some are now saying it’s too risky to take on a UK partner.
"Officially, the line is very clear that the UK remains a full member of the EU until the point that we depart, but of course there’s a lot of anxiety on the part of our partners about what might happen afterwards."
Inverness SNP MP Drew Hendry said: "Over the past few years we have invested both time and resource into building our science, technology, engineering and mathematics industries in the Highlands and the results have been staggering.
"We are punching well above our weight in these fields, with talent in abundance, and it is unthinkable that all this investment will be scuppered because of a determination to drag us out of the European Union against our will.
"The Highlands already faces losing up to 200 million euros of transitional grants and I have written to the prime minister to state clearly that it is vital that she take immediate steps to guarantee this funding and to highlight the concerns expressed by UHI and other Scottish universities."
Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant stressed the whole issue of regional economic development left huge challenges for the region in the light of Brexit.
"What guarantee do we have that even if similar levels of repatriated funding are allocated to regional development, that the ongoing challenges of the Highlands and Islands, including its geography, sparsity of population and its island communities, will be addressed?" she asked.
"The worry is that it will lead to more centralisation of services and agencies – something the current SNP government has form in carrying out.
"It is a huge problem."
