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Brexit will make us stupid apparently

Oxford University could tumble down world rankings if Britain leaves Europe, Lord Patten has warned, citing fears that both academics and students would be deter from coming to the UK.

Apparently the people at Oxford will become more stupid if we’re not in the European Union. Difficult to imagine the “more” there but that’s what is being said.

23 thoughts on “Brexit will make us stupid apparently”

  1. I suppose if we leave Europe the geological status will be worrying. Leaving the EU shouldn’t be as bad. Americans and Canadians, even Russians, manage to study there as it is. Poles were there too even before joining the EU.

    Leave is a bit chaotic but Remain is saying many bizarre things with a straight face.

  2. I fear that a small piece of the sky may have fallen upon Fatty Pang’s head.

    Don’t blame me, I didn’t vote for the clown (I’ve still got a button badge that reads: “Anyone but Toksvig”).

  3. Funny- when I was a student at Oxford, my tutors were an Englishman, an Irishman, an Australian and a Greek. The Greek had been tutoring there for years before Greece joined the EU, and if I’m not mistaken Australia still isn’t a member.

    I’m now doing a part-time course at Cambridge, and the tutors are English, Canadian, American, English and Indian. Unless Canada, the USA and India have joined the EU without my noticing, I’d say Mr Patten’s talking out of his hat.

  4. “academics and students would be deter from coming”

    But apparently not as fvcking stupid as Telegraph writers and sub-editors.

  5. Earlier I ought to have included the Chinese, an even more obvious example, since they are so much in demand that special missions are sent to China to sign them up.

  6. Hmm, leaving out the leave ‘Europe’ nonsense, the figures this week have Oxford falling from 3 to 5, so Mr Patten has the timing wrong on his scaremongering.

    Perhaps if we leave it will start going back up.

  7. The lying is just becoming more brazen, isn’t it?

    I went to study at Oxford from Australia. The question of whether UK was in the EU or not had no bearing on that decision.

  8. Given that university college oxford was apparently founded in 1249 then are we to conclude that for a small period of time it reached a peak, but for most of the time it has been mediocre?

  9. Of course, it’s worth noting the only non-UK European university in the world top 20 is in Switzerland. Most EU universities are still crippled by government control and perform way below where they should. But evidence is clearly not the sort of thing Mr Patten believes should be associated with Oxford University…

  10. Would any of you like to try reading what Chris Patten said before mentioning the word “stupid”? Otherwise it could bounceback straight into your faces.
    Chris Patten was talking about the money Oxford gets from EU grants and saying that Oxford needs that money to fund the research needed to stay in the top handful in the international rankings. Quite true, so far as it goes. The correct response is not to mis-state what he said to to point out that the UK government could give Oxford twice as much out of the money saved by ceasing to subsidise EU bureaucrats.
    [Background info – my old college subsidises its undergraduates, from endowment income and donations by alumni, by more than their grants and student loans combined, but endowments & alumni cannot fund the total cost of Oxford keeping up with Harvard and other super-rich American universities.]

  11. the only non-UK European university in the world top 20 is in Switzerland

    And ETH Zurich is unusual in only offering STEM courses, a bit like Imperial.

  12. “Difficult to imagine the “more” there…”

    Wouldn’t be a reference to this would it?:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3579086/Oxford-law-students-fragile-hear-violent-crime-Undergraduates-given-trigger-warnings-traumatic-material.html

    “But some staff are unhappy with treating students as such fragile creatures.

    Law lecturer Professor Laura Hoyano last week ridiculed the concept when she jokingly warned any students from ‘a farming family’ that she was about to discuss a case involving foot and mouth disease.”

  13. “citing fears that both academics and students would be deter from coming to the UK.”

    You are 18 and have been offered a place at the second greatest university in the world. But lo! You realise the UK isn’t in the EU any more so you go to Shithole Poly instead.

    Lacks credibility.

  14. “citing fears that both academics and students would be deter from coming to the UK.”

    More room for UK students then, including bright ones from poor backgrounds.

    Conclusion: Remain favours rich foreigners over bright English kids.

  15. @john77: would it be fair to say that the gist of your point is that a recipient of EU funding favours staying in the EU?

  16. @ CJ Nerd
    Fair, yes. Accurate, not really.
    My point is that anyone who attacks someone as “stupid” for what he/she has not said when there is an open goal in what he/she did say is himself/herself acting stupidly.

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