Oxford University to pay EU staff settlement scheme costs

Oxford University has said it will pay for all its staff from EU countries, and their families, to apply to stay in the UK permanently post-Brexit.

In a press statement, the institution said EU staff were "greatly valued members of the Oxford community".

The cost of applying to remain in the UK on the Home Office settlement scheme is £65 per person.

EU citizens who have lived in the UK for at least five years are eligible to apply for settled status.

The scheme also allows people who have not lived in the UK as long to register for settled status after five years.

Currently staff members can apply for settled status until 21 December under a Home Office pilot, but not their families.

The full settlement scheme will open after the UK leaves the EU on 29 March 2019.

A spokesperson added the university was "committed to ensuring that all colleagues from the EU keep the rights and freedoms they currently enjoy".

Earlier in December, Oxford University Hospitals Trust, which employs about 1,500 EU nationals, said it would pay for staff settlement status applications.

Across the UK there are 36,000 academics from the European Union working in universities, which accounts for about 17% of all British-based scholars.

Since the EU referendum, universities across the country have warned of a post-Brexit "brain drain".

In 2017, an education select committee report said university staff should be guaranteed a right to stay in the UK.

Another concern for UK universities is a loss of EU funding.

In February, the Daily Telegraph said Oxford University was in talks with French officials to potentially open a "satellite" campus in Paris, in order to receive EU funding.

At the time, a spokesperson said no decision on a potential European campus had been taken.

In October, Imperial College London and the Technical University of Munich announced potential plans for a post-Brexit arrangement where staff would be jointly appointed by both institutions, with the aim of keeping access to EU research funding for UK academics.