Vice Chancellor of the University of Southampton, Mark Smith, has teamed up with SUSU President, Emily Harrison, to deliver a Brexit Day message which stressed the university’s continued welcoming, inclusive, and diverse nature.
In a video message filmed inside the new Centenary Building on Highfield Campus, the two senior figures acknowledged that people have wide-ranging viewpoints on what was, at times, a highly controversial topic of debate. However, the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union will not change the great ‘melting pot‘ of Southampton, a global top 100 research university which each year welcomes 6,500 international students from 135 different countries.
Harrison, who will serve as President of the Students’ Union until the end of this academic year, emphasised her gratitude towards the staff who worked to help prepare the University for the UK’s departure from the trading bloc, including the dedicated Brexit taskforce. Smith stressed that the UK government ‘knows this country needs to make its way in the world‘, and to meet that goal the University will ‘of course‘ continue to welcome students from all over the globe. He continued:
I, along with other senior colleagues in the University, have been lobbying for policies that will protect the things we care about most. We will continue to do so during the transition year – and beyond.
Harrison concluded by advising students who have any questions on the topic of Britain and its future relationship with the European Union with regards to studying at Southampton to go to the University of Southampton’s Brexit advice page.
