The case for the cosmopolitan campus

As someone who grew up in a rural area, surrounded by people with similar accents, similar backgrounds and similar skin colour, it’s fair to say my childhood was not rich with diversity. I was taught about foreign cultures in French, History and Religious Studies, was shown pictures of foreign cities and even, on a rare occasion, was allowed the honour of asking Bernardette the French teaching assistant what the time was, when her birthday was, or what her favourite food was (to even call my French ‘conversational’ would be an exaggeration).

These excursions into the cosmopolitan were, however, punctuated by hours spent in the playground, generally talking about extremely local issues and having conversations on the ultimately quite similar interests that most of us shared. All of this equated to the constant reproduction of a small, insular culture that was, by virtue of conversations about baguettes with the French teaching assistant, aware of an outside world, but ultimately ignorant of it.

For much of Britain, this is the reality. These two experiences exist awkwardly alongside one another, and foreign cultures and people are intangible and remote. For those students who opt for university however, campuses that are ever-expanding melting pots of vastly different cultures, experiences and backgrounds await.

All of this equated to the constant reproduction of a small, insular culture that was, by virtue of conversations about baguettes with the French teaching assistant, aware of an outside world, but ultimately ignorant of it

Recently though, this trend of university students being increasingly international would appear to have dropped off. As The Boar recently reported, UCAS’ most recent data from October reveals a 9% decline in applications to UK universities from EU citizens. The conventional wisdom would seem to be that this drop is an effect of the EU referendum. This may or may not be true – it is difficult to attribute specific causes to this drop, especially so soon after it has happened. One thing is for certain though – it is regrettable. Having more EU citizens in UK universities benefits both the EU citizens and the British nationals studying there.

For those vast swathes of British students who grew up in detached communities, whose only window into the international world was heavily scripted exchanges with their Bernardette equivalent, the personal benefits of meeting international students are countless.

As The Boar recently reported, UCAS’ most recent data from October reveals a 9% decline in applications to UK universities from EU citizens

Regular interaction with people from foreign countries exposes you to new knowledge that most British people would not have access to, it gives a better understanding of social behaviours and it enables the exploration of ideas from a wholly different perspective. And, even for the most introverted students, being constantly surrounded by international students normalises living in a diverse environment. Better that this happens for the first time in the relaxed, open environment of a university campus than in the workplace, where cohesiveness and cooperation is a basic expectation.

Without even going into the economic benefits of having EU students studying here (of which there are many), we should begin by recognising the principled importance of the maximum possible number of people having access to the best education. Feelings of uncertainty or of being unwelcome in the UK should not act as a barrier to this basic principle and, while the drawn-out process of leaving the EU continues, it is in the interest of everyone for this number of applicants to rise again. Without them, everyone is worse off.