French dreaming spires: Oxford University eyes Paris campus to handle Brexit funding cut

Update: The University of Oxford has since tweeted that they are not looking into an overseas campus:

Original report:

The University of Oxford is considering opening its first international campus in its 700-year history in Paris in response to the economic impact of Brexit.

French officials met with senior officials the Telegraph reported to discuss whether a Paris campus could secure further European Union funding that the university might otherwise have missed out on after Britain leaves the EU.

A Paris campus could have French legal status, meaning that joint courses and laboratories with the UK arm could still receive EU funding.

"Oxford has been an international university throughout its history and it is determined to remain open to the world whatever the future political landscape looks like," a spokesperson for the university told the paper.

Other universities, including Warwick, are understood to be considering similar proposals. The dean of a Paris-based university group, involved in the process, had said that discussions had started with the French government.

"The idea is symbolic, to say after Brexit: 'We want to build bridges and that academic life is not totally dependent on political problems'," the dean told the Telegraph.

"We want to say to British universities: 'It can be a win-win game for you'. To have high quality institutions from the UK working in our territory, interacting together in terms of research and collaboration."

Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair continued his unabashedly pro-EU stance in a recent speech where he said he would ignore a "volley of abuse" to built a movement in the face of an ever more likely 'hard Brexit'.

Blair told pro-EU voters to "rise up in defence of our beliefs" as he criticised his own party, saying there was an "absence of an opposition which looks capable on the polls of beating the Government."