What does #NoDealBrexit mean for #Erasmus? We already knew that the UK govt was going to fund successful bids before 2020 and has encouraged UK institutions to apply. But there are still things to note in the technical notice on Erasmus /1 gov.uk/government/pub…
Erasmus is fundamentally about mobility, there is a big question mark over the conditions of how people move UK-EU and EU-UK. The notice says: "The govt will need to reach agreement with the EU for UK organisations to continue participating in Erasmus+" /2
Which does not make sense: if there is no deal, then how can there be discussions about an "agreement"? It continues with "the government will engage with member states and key institutions to seek to ensure UK participants can continue" - but how? Bilateral agreements? /3
This would seem to be extremely bureaucratic and uncertain for participants and well as posing more questions than it answers (who are "key institutions"? why would bypassing the Commission work when there is no evidence this approach has worked so far? etc) /4
So, what is the advice? "Individual students and young people who wish to participate in Erasmus+ funded activities should therefore contact their respective organisations." That is all very well for students who might be wanting to go abroad in 2019-2020. /5
But we are about to enter a UCAS recruitment cycle, with a third year abroad due to take place in 2021-2022. Universities cannot therefore give any indication whether Erasmus will exist or not for UK participants. /6
This is of particular concern for language degrees which include a year abroad or placement elsewhere in Europe. Since languages are supposed to be even more important for graduates in the new "Global Britain", this is very worrying indeed. /7
Interesting, there is an "German carmakers" twist, as the note says "The UK is a net contributor to the overall EU budget and is one of the most popular destinations for EU participants...in 2015/16, the UK was the third most popular destination for higher education students. /8
So who might lose out? Well, EU students wouldn't be able to come to the UK. But they could still go to EU26 and other participants (Norway, Turkey etc). UK students would either have to go via a bilateral agreement (?) (but no funding) or outside the EU (again, no funding). /9
The UK would also use the "soft power" aspect of Erasmus. How many students have come to the UK, had a positive experience and gone home as Ambassadors for the UK and its HE institutions? With positive knock-on effects for (fee-paying) Master's degrees etc. /10
The risk is that if the UK was no longer in Erasmus, the students who would most lose out would be those of limited financial means. AND not forgetting, what would be the visas or other requirements for residency as an overseas student? Certainly more than now. /END
