Say non to EU funding.
It's all very well for the French to take a negative attitude towards the British but where would they be now if we hadn't stepped up to the plate in both World Wars? Of course they could build another Maginot Line....
As for the Universities and their funding I can add some real experience of being involved in an EU backed project which is now in it's fourth year and counting....
First, don't be in a hurry, the overly detailed paperwork takes years.
Second, you are usually asked to match their funding; ie you don't get 100% of the money.
Third, the money comes with lots of unreasonable obligations and restrictions mostly geared to carbon footprint, cycling, walking and even live access to local transport timetables. The actual projects' aim is lost in the paperwork.
Fourth, they check everything (even counting the bike racks) that they have asked for before signing off the final funds and, again, this can take over a year.
And last but not least, they demand lots of EU signage to tell everyone that they put some of their/our money into it. Even the size and location of the EU signage gets a document!
My project should have been done and dusted in 18 months. After four years we are still not done.
The real beneficiaries of EU funding are those academics that keep creating new research projects as a way of avoiding ever getting a real job.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
