{"id":641016,"date":"2025-12-18T22:02:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T22:02:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/641016\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T22:02:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T22:02:14","slug":"erasmus-returns-starmers-reset-or-a-brexit-betrayal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/641016\/","title":{"rendered":"Erasmus returns: Starmer\u2019s reset or a Brexit betrayal?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n The Westminster government announcement on Wednesday that the UK would be returning to the EU\u2019s Erasmus scheme may be seen as a manifesto-pledge ticking task. But for Keir Starmer<\/a>, it also sits in firmly with his \u201creset\u201d plans with the EU, for which he has received some criticism from Conservative benches. South of the Channel, it is fair to say that the news of the rapprochement has been widely welcomed in both political and higher education circles.\n<\/p>\n

\n From 2027, a return to the programme, which the UK left in 2020 after post-Brexit talks fell flat, will once again see exchanges made possible backed with funding between UK and participating, mostly EU, partner countries across further and higher education, in training, culture and sport, and will carry a price tag of some \u00a3570m.\n<\/p>\n

\n In a joint statement, the UK government\u2019s EU relations minister, Nick Thomas-Symonds, and his EU counterpart, Maro\u0161 \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d, hailed the move as a comeback that offered \u201csignificant opportunities [\u2026] for individuals [\u2026], particularly for those in the younger generation\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n Talking to The Guardian, the chief executive of the Association of Colleges, David Hughes, saw the pledge to return to the scheme as \u201cbrilliant news\u201d, adding it would allow students to \u201c[open] their eyes to different cultures and different ways of life\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n Read more:<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\n A view that Fanny Chouc, assistant professor at Heriot Watt University\u2019s Languages and Intercultural Studies Department, shared. Speaking to The Herald, Chouc also saw the announcement as \u201cexcellent news for UK university students\u201d, highlighting the many interests the \u201cform of modern day Grand Tour with funding\u201d meant: financial support, employability prospects, as well as benefits to the UK economy.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cLanguages and intercultural skills are key for trade in any business context\u201d, Chouc said. The lecturer in French also pointed to a 2023 from Forbes which underpinned students employability and income prospects with multilingual and intercultural skills.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cBut let\u2019s face it\u201d, she added, \u201cstudents have been facing financial difficulties as well [as others]. Travelling, living and studying abroad is costly \u2013 it has certainly be a deterrent for some students.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n By contrast with Erasmus+, the replacement Turing Scheme for offered funding for outgoing UK students but did not support incoming students reciprocally. Despite the programme\u2019s aim to expand beyond Europee\u2019s borders and target those who would otherwise have financial difficulties, year one analysis saw the scheme come under fire with four-fifths of UK universities complaining about process complexities, and numbers falling short of government targets.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cBringing back Erasmus+ for our young people, opening the door to new shared experiences and lasting friendships\u201d is how the EU Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, greeted the news on X.\n<\/p>\n

\n (Image: PA)\n<\/p>\n

\n With its return and the Starmer government projecting some 100,000 exchange places for the partnership relaunch in two years, reaction on the continent has been widely positive: the UK had long been a favoured destination for many outgoing European mobility students, not least in France.\n<\/p>\n

\n Bittersweet, Master\u2019s students at the University of Tours, a city in the Loire valley some 150 miles south-west of Paris, spoke enthusiastically of the opportunities the UK returning to the programme meant for future generations, but regretted having to drop their own mobility projects across the Channel due to cost constraints or agreements being scrapped altogether.\n<\/p>\n

\n Maxence Lopez, 21, who previously studied linguistics in Montpellier, had hoped to study in the UK because of the \u201cprestigious universities, cultural and job opportunities\u201d a study period there would have provided but \u201cit unfortunately wasn\u2019t meant to be\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n Part of a lost generation of Erasmus students entering the UK, Jeanne Mathevet, 21, a student in journalism, also said it was a great shame she had been unable to study in the UK because \u201c[the destination] ticked a lot of boxes for many students \u2013 [it is not] far from France and there is a good choice of universities\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n Much like other further and higher education institutes across the bloc, at the University of Tours, which has some 30,000 students, the return of Erasmus has been met with praise. \u201cWe previously had many working partnerships in the UK\u201d, St\u00e9phanie Germon, vice principle for international relations, said, \u201cbut the UK exiting the Erasmus programme in 2020 meant having to review each partnership agreement on a case-by-case basis\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n Read more:<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe\u2019ll now have to do it all over again\u201d, she added \u2013 with laughter, \u201cbut it\u2019s for a good cause.\u201d Germon hoped the return of funding and Erasmus+ framework may mean a more streamlined process to overcome administrative hurdles for both students and institutions.\n<\/p>\n

\n The flagship programme, which in 2027, when the UK is to rejoin the scheme, will celebrate its 40th birthday, was initially a university exchange programme to allow tuition-free study and grants for exchange periods at partner universities around the bloc \u2013 it has since expanded into further education, work placements, cultural events and schooling.\n<\/p>\n

\n Brexit may have led to the programme\u2019s demise, but it was the government of Boris Johnson, despite initially saying Erasmus would be kept, that led to its scrapping. \u00a0In 2020, then PM Johnson claimed the UK was \u201closing out\u201d because of a gap between the number of outgoing UK students versus the number of incoming EU students.\n<\/p>\n

\n Politically on the continent, the UK\u2019s departure from the scheme was felt hard. With reference to the European parliament\u2019s Culture and Education<\/a> Commission, the French centrist Renew MEP, Laurence Farreng, special rapporteur for the UK-EU relations on the committee said: \u201cthere was nothing positive to report on\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cWe could only highlight the gaps and losses in terms of opportunities\u201d that the departure from the programme meant, she added, \u201cinseparably linked to Brexit\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n Returning from a plenary session at the European parliament as the news of the UK\u2019s Erasmus return broke, Farreng recalled how the 2024 change of government in the UK also accompanied a change in both tact and tone. This had been seen elsewhere with joint support efforts for Ukraine with the Coalition of the Willing signalling a warming of UK-EU relations, she said. On Erasmus, \u201c[it] is no longer considered a programme of irregular migration,\u201d she added. \u201cIts return allows us to solidify our relations for both exchange and culture, but also for our sovereignty and competitiveness.\n<\/p>\n

\n \u201cToday\u2019s news is incredible\u2026 unbelievable in some ways, but true.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\n At Westminster, not all political forces have welcomed the project with open arms. In Conservative ranks, the shadow foreign secretary, Priti Patel, criticised the move as a \u201cbetrayal\u201d of Brexit, condemning the Labour government of willingly \u201cdragging Britain back under the control of Brussels\u201d.\n<\/p>\n

\n Absent from the current debate, however, on either side of the Channel, has been comment on a frequent ideological debate: EU cherry-picking \u2013 or Europe \u00e0 la carte: opting in for certain legislative packages and out of others, versus the fixed price set menu of EU membership, often flagged as a cornerstone of the bloc.\n<\/p>\n

\n But in our out, reset, rapprochement or revival: Erasmus is set to return.\n<\/p>\n

\n Jamie Smith-Maillet is a freelance reporter and writer based between France and the UK. He is a multi award-winning journalist, including the Refugee Council for Scotland Media Awards 2024 and was highly commended for the 2024 Hugh Cudlipp prize. With a ten-year career in university teaching, Jamie re-trained in journalism at Edinburgh Napier; his areas of expertise are France, European affairs, UK politics, and environmental issues.<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

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