Universities UK, the organization representing all universities in the country, is calling on the government to return the Erasmus student exchange program.
However, in the post-Brexit UK, the organization expects little to no progress, with the Chief Executive pointing out the “toxic” domestic politics regarding the prospects of the EU, but the Universities are set not to provoke any debate, VisaGuide.World reports.
We really, really regret the fact that we have lost a flow of really good European students into the UK…It’s not in our interest for the government to end up caught in a kind of toxic debate about immigration domestically because, in the end, that is going to hurt us badly if it drives the government to be clamping down on immigration in other ways.
UK PM Has “No Plans” for a Youth Mobility Scheme
This week, the UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, is scheduled to meet with the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and a mobility scheme could be discussed.
However, so far, PM Starmer has noted that it has not been discussed whether there will be a mobility scheme for young people which would allow EU citizens to study in the UK and vice versa.
The EU has also made some attempts to bring the discussion to the table, and in April, an EU proposal was officially made. It would affect students under 30 years old who study and work abroad for a certain period.
The Erasmus student exchange program has made it possible for over 15,000 British students to study at an EU university before 2020, when Brexit rules came into effect, as The Guardian reports.
Could “Turing” Replace Erasmus?
Erasmus has brought a lot of students to the UK, and many British students have had the chance to pursue their academic careers in the EU, be it for a semester or more.
However, since Brexit, this scheme has been paused. Instead, Turing was introduced to British students and organizations – the British replacement mobility scheme, which offers new ideas for student exchange programs.
Turing is expected to facilitate four-week placements and can be taken by up to 23,000 students in 2024. Erasmus, on the other hand, allowed students to study for two months to a maximum of one year.
We also get a tiny bit uncomfortable when you think that something which is extremely important to us might be bound up in big politics.
According to EU data for 2020, over 17,000 students came to the UK in the 2018 to 2019 academic year. Compared to the number of British students who came to the UK, that number is double the size – 9,908. This could imply that Erasmus is benefiting more the EU students than it is to the Brits.