Petition to secure residency rights for EU staff launched by DMU

De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) has started an international petition to ensure the residency rights of EU university staff across the UK are protected following the country's vote for Brexit.

Less than a week after the UK's historic vote to leave the European Union, DMU, led by Vice-Chancellor Professor Dominic Shellard, has launched the #LoveInternational campaign to celebrate and reassure staff living and working at universities across the country.

As part of this campaign, DMU has set up a petition on the Change.org website, which, as people put their signatures to it, will be delivered to Prime Minister David Cameron.

And to further drive home the campaign's message, Prof. Shellard has today taken a letter arguing for the protection of these residency rights, in person, to the Prime Minister's office at 10 Downing Street.

The petition - which calls on the Government to 'protect residency rights of EU-born university staff living and working in the UK' - is open now to signatures, and asserts the fact that 'universities have a vital role to play in helping to rebuild this country'.

Currently, EU staff have the freedom to live, travel and work in the UK because it is part of the European Union. However, the UK's vote to leave the EU potentially puts this in jeopardy and leaves those EU-born staff uncertain over their future status.

In his letter to the Prime Minister, Prof Shellard said the vote to leave the EU had led to "fear and uncertainty" among staff who had moved to the UK from the EU.

He wrote: "We are a 21st century, global university and we are proud of being so. We have more than 300 international staff, of whom 120 are from the EU. Their contribution here is immense; their skills, talent and enterprise impact not just here in Leicester, or in the UK, but across the world, through our innovative partnerships and international collaborations.

"The value these individuals bring to this country is incalculable; they deserve at the very least to feel welcome and secure here. We therefore ask, as a matter of urgency, that permanent residency rights for all university staff from the EU be enshrined in law as part of any negotiated post-referendum settlement.

"A university, by Latin definition, is a community, a whole. At De Montfort University - as with so many UK universities - we have realised this in every possible way.

"Please, Prime Minister: do not let this political decision disrupt a guiding principle so worthy and so full of benefit for all."