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Universities must fight back against the ¡°pernicious anti-intellectualism¡± and distrust of experts that has marked the Brexit campaign, a vice-chancellor said.

Dominic Shellard, vice-chancellor of De Montfort University, said that there was a ¡°lot of anxiety and stress¡± among students and staff on campus after the UK¡¯s decision to leave the European Union, which he called a ¡°grim day for Britain¡±.

Many academics were particularly worried that the Leave campaign¡¯s tactics of dismissing economic experts who warned about the perils of a Brexit had apparently paid off, Professor Shellard told Times Higher Education.

¡°One of the main things about [UK Independence Party leader] Nigel Farage¡¯s campaign was this pernicious brand of anti-intellectualism, where anyone who professed to be an expert was derided,¡± he said.

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¡°As an institution where the accolade ¡®expert¡¯ is earned by painstaking years of study, we think people should be proud of that term,¡± he said.

Many university staff are now thinking about how to combat this emerging trend in national life, said Professor Shellard.

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¡°Universities have a moral responsibility to challenge the notion that an intellectual or expert is someone who should be distrusted or denigrated,¡± he said.

¡°Universities must be the real leaders in the fightback against insularity."

The Leicester university was due to hold a meeting on 24 June for all staff and students to reassure them about how the historic referendum result would affect them, Professor Shellard said.

¡°We have to reassure international students, particularly those from the EU, about the result as nothing will happen very quickly,¡± he said.

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¡°People are pretty bereft,¡± he added, not least by the ¡°extent to which the country is riven from top to bottom, with London pitted against the northern shires, and Scotland against the South of England¡±.

The university would contact all non-UK applicants holding an offer to reassure them that their place was safe, he added.

¡°However, we are in limbo now and we all know the Leave campaign does not have any plans, just a slogan,¡± he added, saying that it ¡°could not even answer basic questions such as ¡®will EU students be able to get a loan?¡¯¡±.

His comments were echoed by Steve West, vice-chancellor of the University of the West of England, who moved to reassure non-UK EU students, of whom nearly 30,000 undergraduates were admitted to UK universities last autumn.

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Universities had been advised that there ¡°will not be any immediate material change to the UK university sector¡¯s participation in EU programmes such as Horizon 2020 and Erasmus+, nor to the immigration status of current and prospective EU students and staff¡±, he said.

The European University Association also called for institutions across the region not to sever their ties with UK universities, despite ¡°formidable¡± consequences of the referendum decision.

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¡°Regardless of the result of the referendum, British universities are and remain an essential part of the European family of universities, which extends beyond EU borders,¡± it said in a statement, adding the ¡°Europe of universities will not be divided!¡±.

jack.grove@tesglobal.com