IT is an institution whose pioneering research is making a difference across the globe.

Within the many faculties of the University of Southampton, you will find researchers striving to find cures for cancer, tackling the problem of global warming and designing the latest in advanced technology.

Almost 100 per cent of the research produced at the university is rated as internationally excellent and world class.

As a result the university attracts some £25m a year in funding directly from the European Research Fund.

That uncertainty of what would happen to that research funding and flow of staff and students, is one of a number of reasons why the Director of Public Policy at the University of Southampton has concluded that he cannot thing of "a single good reason" why Britain should leave the EU when it comes to the issue of higher education.

In fact Gavin Costigan goes further. "There is no advantage that I can see. in the short term there will be a period of uncertainly and head scratching to find a way to, at best, get back to where we are now."

Mr Costigan points to how the relationship leading universities like Southampton have with Europe is a beneficial one.

"It is very much that in the case of universities, we certainly get back from the European Fund more than what is contributed."

It is that money which is ploughed in to funding the cutting edge research that has put Southampton on the global map as a hub of scientific, social and technological advances.

The staff that are attracted as a result of that reputation from EU countries could also be put off coming should Britain vote to leave, says Mr Costigan.

"We want to attract the very best staff and the free flow of academics and students to work on research projects around Europe currently is an easy one. Of course nothing would change overnight and there may be another way it plays out but having to get visa for example would make that process more difficult. Similarly we want to attract the best staff here and if we are competing with a university in Paris inside of the EU if we were out, then it could have an impact there."

However, those in the Vote Leave camp argue that coming out of Europe would free up budgets to enable more money to be spent on science and research industries.

The official Leave campaign says: "If Britain takes back control of the money we send to Brussels and diverts some of it into science, we could make Britain a world leader in crucial fields.

"We could safeguard British research which is also threatened by Government cuts and Whitehall’s anti-science culture stretching over decades.

"We could also continue to participate in international scientific collaborations just as other non-EU countries do."