Britain will rejoin the European Union\u2019s Erasmus student-exchange program, the government has announced. Under the deal revealed Wednesday, British students and…<\/p>\n
LONDON(AP) \u2014 Britain will rejoin the European Union\u2019s flagship Erasmus student-exchange program, it was announced Wednesday, in a major step for efforts to reset the U.K.’s post-Brexit<\/a> relations with the 27-nation bloc.<\/p>\n British university and college students and apprentices will be able to study or train in EU countries under the program without paying extra foreign-student fees from January 2027. In turn, students from EU countries will be able to study in Britain.<\/p>\n The agreement also covers opportunities to study or train abroad for school pupils, adult learners, educators and sports coaches.<\/p>\n Britain’s EU Relations Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said the agreement \u201cis a huge win for our young people, breaking down barriers and widening horizons to ensure everyone, from every background, has the opportunity to study and train abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n The U.K. will pay about 570 million pounds ($860 million) for the first year, with the cost for future years to be set later.<\/p>\n The almost four-decade-old program is one of the bloc\u2019s most popular achievements and has allowed millions of young Europeans to study in other countries. The program includes several non-EU countries, such as Iceland and Norway.<\/p>\n The U.K. voted in 2016 to leave the EU and left in 2020<\/a> with a bare-bones trade deal that ended the right of British citizens to live, study and work freely across the bloc. Then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson pulled Britain out of Erasmus, saying it was not good value for money.<\/p>\n Prime Minister Keir Starmer\u2019s<\/a> center-left Labour Party government pledged to repair ties with the EU strained by years of acrimony over Brexit.<\/p>\n In May, the U.K. and the EU announced new agreements<\/a> on trade, travel and defense and the two sides are negotiating on lowering trade barriers for food and drink products and on a wider youth-mobility program.<\/p>\n