“University” versus “smart city” in the context of Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic on the example of the United Kingdom

The topic is of current interest, joined with the state of the higher education system under the enormous influence of a pandemic of a new type of virus and is undergoing qualitative changes in different countries of the world. The article features the process of updating and converging two concepts - “university city” and “smart city” on the example of one of the world leaders in the field of internationalization - the United Kingdom under the influence of Brexit (Britain’s exit from the European Union) and the coronavirus pandemic. The purpose of the article is to identify the points of contact between the two concepts -“university city” and “smart city” and assess the pace and results of their implementation in the United Kingdom in the context of the overlapping effects of Brexit and a pandemic. The general methodological framework of the study are represented by the views of C.R. Berry and E.L. Glaeser on the connection between “smart cities” and education and Joe Ravetz’s theory of the special role of man and the humanitarian sphere in the transition from smart to wise cities. Analysis, synthesis, generalization of research results and modeling of possible developments were used to describe the current challenges to the British higher education system and internationalization in the context of Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic. The main sources for this article were statistics, interviews, policy documents of the UK government, public opinion polls and other materials. It is shown that for Britain two processes coincided - the exit from the European Union and the pandemic, seriously limiting the mobility of the population, including students. Both challenges carry both certain risks (a decrease in funding and the loss of applicants from the EU and other regions) and certain opportunities (the development of new online courses, stronger ties with industry amid rising unemployment, inclusion of people from different points of the globe in the distance learning process without infrastructure costs and others). Conclusions are made about the strengthening of the importance of “smart” technologies for the development of university campuses and forms of teaching in the UK under the influence of distance learning, introduced everywhere since March 2020. It is shown that “smart” technologies have both a positive impact on the life of university campuses and cities, and create certain risks associated with access to personal data and violation of the usual foundations of communication and infrastructure functioning. Scientific novelty is expressed in fixing the convergence of two concepts - “university” and “smart” under the influence of quantitative and qualitative changes in the recruitment of foreign students in the UK in the face of Brexit and pandemic challenges and forecasting the situation in the field of internationalization and these concepts in the short and medium term.

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