Britain's exit from the European Union (EU) has left many institutions concerned about their future in the United Kingdom (UK). The prestigious Oxford University may soon break its 700-years-old tradition by setting up a foreign campus in Paris, The Telegraph reports.
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French officials met the senior staff at the Oxford University last week and pitched a plan to set up a "satellite" base in Paris in an attempt to get EU funding to the institution post Brexit. Other universities, including Warwick, were also approached by the officials with similar proposals.
France, earlier this month, came up with lucrative proposals for Britain's bankers across the Channel after the UK decided to leave the EU. The French officials promised Oxford French legal status and uniterrupted EU funding for satellite campuses in France.
New International campus in Paris
British universities would "relocate" degree courses and study programmes and also create joint degrees and research laboratories under the plan. The construction of the new campus will begin in 2018, if the universities go along with the plan, The Telegraph reported.
An Oxford spokesperson said no decision has yet been taken on the French proposals. "Oxford has been an international university throughout its history and it is determined to remain open to the world whatever the future political landscape looks like," the spokesperson added.
The former director-general of the French ministry for education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, confirmed that efforts were underway to attract Britain's best universities across the Channel. He added that the plans for a new international campus are already underway at Universite Paris Sienne - an association of ten universities in the French capital. The Dean of Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (ESSEC) also added that he and other leading French academics were in talks with the French government to that end.
