The University of Glasgow has become the latest UK higher education institution to set up a major European collaboration in the wake of the Brexit vote.

The Scottish university said on 19?June that it had signed a partnership agreement with Leuphana University of L¨¹neburg to jointly establish a European Centre for Advanced Studies in Lower Saxony.

The venture is seen as providing a platform for research collaborations, joint courses, and student and staff exchanges, as well as, significantly, creating a vehicle for joint research funding bids. This means that it could offer Glasgow a means of partly mitigating any reduction in access to European Union research funding after the UK leaves the bloc.

Sir Anton Muscatelli, Glasgow¡¯s principal, said that ¡°with Brexit on the horizon, it is essential that we continue to be heavily involved in successful collaborations¡±.

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Sascha Spoun, Leuphana¡¯s president, said that the new centre ¡°brings the opportunity to send out a strong political signal for the idea of Europe and the future development of academia in times of Brexit¡±.

The announcement comes after the University of Warwick formed a partnership with the University of Paris Seine and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, aimed in part at accessing European funding for cross-border higher education networks.

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Imperial College London?has opened a?joint?mathematics laboratory?with the French National Centre for Scientific Research, the?University of Oxford?has signed an?alliance with four universities in Berlin, and?King¡¯s College London?is considering opening a?branch campus in Dresden.

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com