Scholars in limbo as UK quits European University Institute

The UK has ended its participation in the European University Institute (EUI), throwing recently arrived students and staff at the Florence-based research centre into limbo.

The Westminster government said in 2019 that the UK would “automatically” end its 44-year participation in the EUI as part of Brexit, despite this being based in a separate treaty from those governing its European Union membership.

Subsequent talks on how a non-member UK might still participate in the EUI – a social sciences and humanities postgraduate teaching and research institute established by EU member states – failed over disagreements about its role in governance.