Erasmus Programme after Brexit

The post-Brexit transition period is coming to an end on 31 December 2020. The UK government and the EU are currently negotiating a possible future relationship, covering a vast range of matters from trade to security. However, there remains a risk that no agreement will be reached by the time the transition period ends.

This would have many implications for universities, their students and staff, their international partners, and operations. One of the affected programmes will be Erasmus. Erasmus students coming to the UK brought £420m to the economy in 2017.

Universities UK International (UUKi) have submitted a briefing paper on a national alternative to Erasmus+ to the Department of Education and the result is that the government has committed to funding an Erasmus alternative in the event of no agreement on UK’s participation in the EU’s mobility programmes from 1 January 2021.

It highlighted that the Department for Education had advised its ‘UK International Educational Mobilities Scheme’ domestic alternative will be “ambitious, UK-wide and global in its reach”.

The government’s support for funding the alternative is unknown but it will set out further details in due course.

Director of UUKi, Vivienne Stern, said this is a very important step that the government decided to support an alternative plan should the UK not be able to secure a deal. She thanked the government for the decision especially during these times that are financially difficult for all public sector. this shows that the government is aware that the UK continues to be a globally-engaged country.

President of Cardiff University, Colin Riordan, said the news show that the government had been paying attention to what the educational institutions asked for but there is still a lot of unanswered questions that need clarification such as immigration requirements, a timeline for implementation and other aspects.

There could be 2 plans with regards to the outcome. Plan A is to be open to considering participation in some elements of the next Erasmus+ program assuming it stays in the UK’s interest to do so.

Plan B would be the scenario that the national replacement of Erasmus will become reality. The institutions need to consider this and at least in principle work on agreements with counterparts in Europe and around the world, to ensure that when the situation is clarified the plans can move forward quickly.

UUKi has stated participation in Erasmus is a preferable scenario to creating the UK’s own national scheme. They pointed out when talking to partner institutions in Europe to negotiate with their own governing bodies to compromise on Erasmus agreement but they also want to make everyone aware that if the outcome is not the agreement, everyone needs to be ready to act and to make the transition to new ways as easy as possible for the institutions involved but most importantly for the students.

UUKi urged the government to give answers on the structure, funding levels, and framework of the proposed national scheme as soon as possible in 2020.