The UK’s exit from the European Union (EU) will not affect its appreciation of Turkey’s strategic value, and the two sides’ relations will continue, Anadolu Agency reported Britain’s consul general in Istanbul stating on Wednesday.

“Our strategic bilateral relationship with Turkey will continue to be of great importance to the United Kingdom,” Judith Slater, who is also the UK’s trade commissioner for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, told Anadolu Agency.

Slater confirmed that the UK aims to strengthen its partnership with Turkey and make both countries safer and more prosperous.

“That means working together across a broad range of issues to facilitate regional stability and security, promote people-to-people and cultural links and growing our bilateral trade and investment,” she stressed.

Slater noted that the UK’s partnership with Turkey in leading organisations like G20, the Council of Europe and NATO is likely to become increasingly significant.

“We are leaving the European Union but not turning our backs on Europe. We will continue to cultivate close, productive relations – of mutual benefit – with European countries,” she added.

Read: Turkey sends 2nd batch of medical supplies to UK

UK continues to work closely with Turkey

Touching on the issue of a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries, Slater affirmed that both sides are very keen to ensure, as far as possible, a smooth transition [for post-Brexit trade relations] by putting an FTA in place before the end of the year.

“The eighth meeting of the Trade Working Group was held on 25 June, 2020, and made good progress,” she disclosed, noting that further talks are scheduled for the summer period.

“Turkey’s unique position in a customs union with the EU means some of the UK’s [with Turkey] will be influenced by the agreement which the UK reaches with the EU.”

The UK has signed FTAs with many nations, but Ankara is unable to sign an FTA with London due to Turkey’s international commitments with the EU.

The UK continues to work closely with Turkey to progress their discussions to ensure that a strong trading relationship continues at the end of the transition period on 31 December, 2020, Slater explained.

FTA to facilitate future trade

The UK government places a great deal of importance on the trading relationship with Turkey, according to Slater, recalling that bilateral trade grew by over 65 per cent between 2008 and 2019.

The UK is Turkey’s second-biggest export market and third-largest foreign direct investment partner, noted Slater.

“Ratification of a continuity FTA will facilitate future trade. We continue to promote bilateral trade and investment and are also keen to address existing market access barriers to our companies and to collaborate in projects in third countries,” highlighted Slater.

“We believe that the UK is a very attractive destination for foreign investment and will continue to be so.”

Read: Flights between Turkey, UK to resume as of June 11

Last year, the UK secured more foreign direct investment (FDI) than Germany and France combined, continuing to hold the title of the most attractive place in Europe for FDI.

“We have seen investment from big Turkish firms, like the purchase of United Biscuits by Yildiz Holding, Turkish investment in the financial sector and also the interest of Turkish entrepreneurial companies and startups, particularly in the tech sector.”

According to Slater, there is a lot of Turkish interest in investing in the UK, and the British side is optimistic about the future in this area.

“But we are not complacent and recognise that the UK cannot sit still but needs to continue doing everything it can to make sure it remains a magnet for investors.”

“Technology is one such key sector. This is very much the view of Prime Minister Boris Johnson,” concluded Slater.

In a series of interviews with The Parliamentary Review, educational consultancy Scion Mastery have discussed what they think are the biggest concerns facing the higher education sector. According to Director Inga Neaves, there is a “triple threat” of “Brexit, tightening budgets and unchecked expansion”, which she will cover in three separate pieces over the coming days.

A triple threat of Brexit, tightening budgets and unchecked expansion has seen the rankings of UK universities in an international league table slump for the fourth year in a row.

We at Scion Mastery are a firm believer in the highest quality of UK education and are unsure as to why people born and raised here would allow or participate in a controlled democratic demolition of their own country.

We would like to bring attention to each of the mentioned threats which have supposedly contributed to the UK universities international league table slump. This article will focus on Brexit.

On June 23, 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. The phrase “quality of education”, unhelpfully, is an ambiguous one. The most popular way of demystifying this is likely to be the level or grades awarded for the subjects the student has studied together with the quality of the set the student finds him or herself in.

Parents worldwide are searching for a stable and exhaustive educative process of which their children will progress through the ranks. One that will be unrivalled by those of their native countries. In the last 24 months, we have witnessed a spike in students applying from a number of developing countries, eager to embrace an acclaimed academic experience which enables the student to garner an internationally recognised education. In view of Cambridge and Oxford’s illustrious superiority in academia and unanimous attraction for employers, do other worldwide institutions arouse your attention as ardently?

The UK education system uses grading according to National Standards and other grades according to Public Schools Standards. It represents many academically desirable traits comprising of a clear grading criterion, a reliable and comprehensible academic structure, an adept teaching methodology and a minimum number of subjects and syllabuses that every modern citizen of this country should have access to.

A broad-brush condemnation of Britain’s influence post-Brexit which lumps in a potential drop in demand from international students to study in the UK is a lazy one, and the numbers don’t reflect the assertion. Ben Sowter, director of research at QS, himself appeared unable to draw a parallel between Brexit and the fall. Au contraire, the number of admissions has escalated.

It is also key to recognise that UK universities were ranked as among the world’s best before they formed part of the EU.

At Scion Mastery, we advocate for an international, open minded and liberal student’s society which will supply each and every student with the opportunity to experience what many would consider to be a once in a lifetime, and. our professional project has not been disrupted by the Brussels divorce. Rather, it could potentially be a tactic used to weaponize blame against those who voted for it. The silence of statistical evidence on this point is deafening.

Scion Mastery are constantly seeking ways to evolve and revolutionise and as we speak, many countries are experiencing change, pining for an education that would prepare its future citizens to help their native nations achieve better standards of living. Brexit, contrary to what some are saying, will not be the reason that students from abroad are unable to move to the UK to pursue higher education.

Brexit affected European students minimally and also had a small impact on foreign students who didn’t share the same term as Europeans (i.e. financial or immigration status advantages) The system together with its clarity and grading was not affected by Brexit. That is the consensus from Scion Mastery. Whether we elected to remain or leave, it would’ve rolled on unperturbed. Shouldn’t the more overt political and socio-economic shortcomings be higher up in the hierarchy of what needs to be addressed post-Brexit?

Its structure aptly draws parallels with a little black dress: classy, reliable and aesthetically pleasing. However, a trendy, colourful and amusing dress is seasonal and takes years to become classy, if ever. We should cherish what we have. And at Scion Mastery, we have staked our claim.

While voting for Brexit was never motivated by consideration for those not from the UK, universities are arguably a different playing field. On the 23rd of June, the Conservative government finally ended the ambiguous position in which many EU agreements were left in a state of suspension, and made a statement confirming what we all suspected: as of 2021, newly enrolling students from the European Union/European Economic Area will be subject to international status. This means they will no longer have access to home fees, to a loan from the Student Loans Company (SLC), or to a bursary from the university. This measure will have damaging effects for a myriad of actors, including EU students, universities, and, to a lesser extent, the UK as a whole. 

According to the University of Oxford, 43% of its entire student body is international. This might be surprising for many whose image of Oxford is an extremely Anglocentric one, whose experience of it is populated by mostly white and often London-based students. However, this impression isn’t fully inaccurate- the aforementioned number is inflated by the (often more reclusive) graduate students; only 20% of undergraduates are from outside of the UK- and half of those are from the EU.

The myth of the wealthy international student in the UK is a prevalent and pervasive one. Without a British accent, you are immediately presumed to be extremely wealthy- able to finance a decadent life abroad. This stems from the fact that being an international student is quite costly- often prohibitively so. If you do the math, tuition at the University of Oxford for undergraduate students outside of the UK and the EU/EEA ranges from £25,740 to £36,065. Then, there are the costs that are not commonly considered, such as air travel, or purchasing items which home students could easily bring from home (like pillows, a kettle, etc). Furthermore, these cannot be alleviated through any form of financial support from the government or the university.

However, people often fail to consider a subset of international students who might not fit this description of the affluent international: those from the EU/EEA. These are students who, albeit privileged, are often not more so than the average UK student. They might not be able to study in the UK with ease. This is especially the case in the wake of the Euro Debt Crisis of 2009, which had a debilitating economic impact on countries such as Greece, Portugal, and Spain, and which is still being felt potently today. The impending economic consequences of COVID-19 might be just as destructive. 

With Brexit, EU students lose any financial aid. It makes sense that without the economic alliance which bound the UK to other European countries, it would be “morally and legally difficult” to continue giving EU students preferential treatment, as Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, argued. However, Hillman has also predicted that these measures “could risk a decline of about 60% in the number of EU students coming to the UK to study”. He qualifies this by stating that “history suggests that the education on offer in our universities is something people are willing to pay for”, but he fails to see that after a certain point, it is not a matter of whether you are willing, but rather whether you are able. As much as we might try, we cannot will an additional £20,000 into our possession. 

Here, there is a clash of priorities. As an educational institution, Oxford (as well as other UK universities) has both a primary responsibility to UK citizens, as well as the role of educating, cultivating, and providing opportunities to the bright minds of the world, in the hopes that this will make them capable of one day making an impact. The former priority is often reinforced by the argument that UK taxpayers should not be expected to support non-UK students. However, this does not hold up well when one invokes the counterargument that many of these students stay on in the UK; in 2011, 54,045 students switched from a study visa to another visa (such as a work visa) to be able to remain in the country. It is undeniable that the UK is a beneficiary of the brain drain that plagues many other countries today. While Oxford disseminates placating claims such as that “our staff and students from all across the world are as warmly welcome as ever”, we have yet to get a clear statement or policy which addresses how they intend to continue supporting these students. It is not enough to merely “welcome them” if they cannot arrive here in the first place. On the latter priority, a less diverse university environment can only harm these institutions in their role as authorities of knowledge and its development. Ultimately, Oxford has never had any qualms about claiming credit for the achievements of their foreign notable alumni, be it political leaders such as Benazir Bhutto, writers like Vikram Seth, and more recently, Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai. 

For many, being able to study abroad is a lifeline. Students are given opportunities they would not have had in their home countries: the ability to study their subject with a near unlimited access to books and resources, better links to employers (in Greece, youth unemployment stands at 35.6%), and much more. Many use this knowledge and bring it back to their own countries, and thus can improve and contribute to society back home. Since these announcements, I have witnessed several parents distraught over their children’s future prospects- even parents with children only 14 years old. For many, the function of an overseas tertiary education cannot be overstated. Many of us might be considered “traitors” for this; I was recently informed by a fellow compatriot in the Facebook comment section of a Guardian article that I am “the worst type of Greek”. It is true that many still have access to an education in other European countries, such as the Netherlands, Italy, or France, however these offer considerably fewer English-speaking courses, and the language barrier is definitely an important consideration, even just in daily life. Furthermore, with English being such a widely spoken language, so many people have learned it explicitly because it would allow us to escape the confines of our own countries. 

The system is already imbalanced. It is impossible to justify why EU students should get benefits over other overseas ones, or why the privileged EU students should get more opportunities, or – even on a domestic level – why students from prestigious private schools should get in at higher rates than those from underfunded state schools. However, this measure merely serves to decrease the net level of accessibility for students, which seems unwise and counterproductive in approaching this inequality. Universities should embrace an ethos of openness, and institute measures which will continue to ensure that students from around the world can still afford to come and study.

Hopefully, this inevitable period of change will provide the necessary impetus for furthering these reforms: increasing the number and value of scholarships on offer for international students, or maintaining their commitment to offering financial aid to such students, potentially taking this chance to extend it to those outside the EU too. The vote for Brexit already has an alienating impact on foreigners in the UK, revealing deep-seated antipathies for that which is ‘other’. So, if Oxford (among others), is as committed as they claim to “remain a thriving, cosmopolitan community of scholars and students”, they should put their money where their mouth is.