View of Paris from the Arc de Triomphe at sunset (photo by Moyan Brenn, used under CC license)

Oxford University may break with seven centuries of tradition by setting up its first foreign campus in France, The Telegraph reported this week. The news comes in the wake of France’s efforts, launched earlier this month, to lure Britain's bankers, after Britain voted to leave the European Union.

Oxford was told that a campus opened in France could have French legal status and continue to receive EU funding, The Telegraph said. It added that French officials and senior Oxford University staff met last week and revealed new proposals that could guarantee future EU funding for a "satellite" base in Paris.

Other universities, including Warwick, were also approached with the idea to build a new campus in Paris in 2018, the report said. The idea was that British universities would relocate study programs and start joint degrees and research facilities, it added.

If Oxford’s and other universities’ plans go forward, construction on the new Paris campus could start in 2018, The Telegraph report said. It added that a spokesman for Oxford said no decision had yet been reached. “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," it quoted him as saying.

Jean-Michel Blanquer, the former director-general of the French ministry for education, confirmed that efforts were under way to lure Britain’s best universities across the Channel, the report said. It added that Blanquer, who is Dean of Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (ESSEC), said he was consulting with the European Commission, and had already met with officials from Oxford and the University of Warwick. The Commission oversees European higher education funding projects, The Telegraph report noted.

The Telegraph report added that leading academics have warned British MPs that Brexit and the loss of European research funding could be the “biggest disaster” for higher education. It quoted Professor Alastair Buchan, Oxford University’s recently appointed head of Brexit strategy, as saying: “We have got to be absolutely sure we are open; every student and every staff member that comes to Oxford is a benefit for this country because we recruit quality, people that play in the top league.”

The full report of The Telegraph is here. For more on Brexit, click here.