Just listened to the Universities minister, Michelle Donelan, on @BBCr4today @BBCRadio4 #r4today talking about #Turingscheme. Some thoughts, in addition to my comments in the @guardian this morning: theguardian.com/education/2021… /1
Universities are being told if their bids have been successful today. The headline number is that 40,000 UK students are able to go abroad, compared with 28,000 previously under Erasmus. However, that 40,000 relates to the bids, not actual students as per the Erasmus figure. /2
Therefore, these are not like for like. When pressed about actual numbers going, she said they 'will' be going, and to 150 countries. In my opinion, this is unrealistic for several reasons and does not account for the reality of organising exchanges within such a short space. /3
First, some students will need to go out because their degree programme requires it (e.g. language degrees). They might benefit from leftover Erasmus funds, unused from the pandemic. So these are not 'new' students but ones who would go anyway. /4
Second, whilst Unis might have started to invite existing students to apply for places abroad, since the funding was not guaranteed, not all of these will take up a place even if offered. /5
Third, the amount of funding received by each student will vary a lot per institution and destination. So, a student might think that a grant of X amount under Turing would not help them adequately cover the costs of travel. Especially for disadvantaged students. /6
Fourth, the pandemic means that many countries are not even allowing foreign citizens in. And if places can only be confirmed now, then visa processes are likely to take a while. /7
On tuition fees, which is one major change from Erasmus where fee waivers were guaranteed, the Minister said that exchanges under Turing "will be tuition fee free". She is correct that some existing exchanges operate on this basis, but these are existing agreements. /8
It is less clear how successful Universities and other institutions have been in securing new agreements since Turing was announced earlier this year. From personal experience, exchange agreements outside Erasmus are highly time consuming and bureaucratic (on both sides!). /9
The Minister claims students will go to 150 countries. The list I have seen includes countries where the Foreign Office advises against 'all travel'. So it remains to be seen how many students do in fact go, and where. She said 39% are due to go to Europe. /10
In short, we should start to see how Turing can work in practice but we will only know in a year how many actually went. And in the pandemic, I find it very unlikely that there will be 40,000 who are able to go. The good thing is the commitment that Turing will continue. /11
One of the main barriers to students going abroad, especially those with limited financial means going, is the lack of certainty about grants. If Turing continues, the needs to be the same kind of stability of levels of funding that was provided by Erasmus. /12
The claim that 48% of funding to disadvantaged students needs clarity. If actual amounts low, then take-up of places will be negatively impacted. What will be very interesting, and more directly comparable, is what students going to EU will get under Turing v Erasmus. /13
Very interested to see how many go for short-term visits, which is new (Erasmus needed a 3 month stay minimum). This might plug the gap of numbers if the pandemic eases in 2022, though organising such placements can be difficult to fit into Uni programmes (here and overseas). /14
In short, there is more clarity now for Universities but we should be wary of numbers, destinations and the profile of participants until we are able to evaluate how many students actually depart (and come to the UK too). /END

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More from @Cardwell_PJ

27 Dec 20
Lots more to say on #Erasmus and 'replacement' #turingscheme. Students in Northern Ireland may still have access thanks to the Irish government. What about Scotland or Wales? Some considerable barriers here to think about. /1 independent.ie/irish-news/nor…
Erasmus is an EU programme. It is established by a Regulation: a law covering the scope, how the programme works, funding etc over a 7 year period (2014-20). Higher Ed exchanges and Jean Monnet are the best known but also vocational training etc. /2 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
Participation from non-EU states is possible (Art 24). Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein are in the European Economic Area; Switzerland needs a bilateral agreement. I assume UK would need to be listed similarly to Switzerland in the new Regulation if it wanted to be in. /3
Read 11 tweets
26 Dec 20
Some details about the #turingscheme as a replacement for #Erasmus are now out. Here are my initial thoughts, from an institutional and education perspective more than costs. /1
First, setting up a scheme to run in 2021 is difficult and especially for those already in degree programmes who were due to go on Erasmus placements (language students in particular). Setting up non-Erasmus agreements with Universities takes many months of bureaucracy. /2
I know because I've done this: whilst some Unis can move quickly, getting an agreement from a Uni in, say, the USA is tricky. Why? Needs to be interest from other side to receive *and send* students, which there may or may not be. Bespoke contract, Uni committees etc. /3
Read 24 tweets
24 Dec 20
Lots of discussion on #Erasmus, and rightly so. It is close to my heart, as a former participant (Lille, France), and the coordinator of a Uni department that expanded to take full advantage for our students (22 countries, 100+ going each year). /1
It was always a risk it would be lost, even with assurances by Johnson as recently as this year (see @AlexTaylorNews). May's 'red line' on free movement set the tone: Erasmus cannot be fully separated. I wrote as much in 2017. /2 timeshighereducation.com/blog/uk-studen… @timeshighered
As the risk of 'no deal' loomed in 2017, I returned to this theme. On both these occasions, I faced Brexiter criticism for (a) suggesting that it would/could end (b) it is not that important and (c) 'Global Britain' means students can go elsewhere. /3 prospectmagazine.co.uk/world/what-wou…
Read 7 tweets
24 Dec 20
As @AndrewSparrow at the @guardian points out, Johnson led Vote Leave and then wrote the following in the Telegraph after the referendum result. Line by line analysis of the key part?: /1 theguardian.com/p/fptqf/stw
"I cannot stress too much that Britain is part of Europe, and always will be."

Well, he can't change geography, but the centre of gravity in politics and economics in Europe is not in the UK, and the UK is relegated to the periphery with a very limited relationship to the EU. /2
"There will still be intense and intensifying European cooperation and partnership in a huge number of fields: the arts, the sciences, the universities, and on improving the environment."

No: no partnership and none will intensify. Env only because EU insistence on LPF? /3
Read 9 tweets
15 Dec 20
I have sent many students on exchange to all these countries, and to about 20 European countries covered by ErasmusPlus. A worthwhile experience for all but the idea of replacing #ErasmusPlus exchanges with Aus/NZ/Canada comes with problems: /1
First, an 'exchange' is reciprocal. So you need approx same numbers of students coming in coming as you do in going out. NZ/Canada/Aus all smaller than UK: so for this to work, all those students interested in an exchange must want to come to the UK over anywhere else. /2
Likely? Not so much. Many will want to go to non-English speaking destinations, including in Europe and Asia. UK often seen as too 'obvious' a choice in my experience. So the UK is going to be limited in scope for partnerships. /3
Read 10 tweets
11 Dec 20
Short thread need. To be clear - getting agreements, even continuity ones, is good news for the UK and an achievement for those who have worked on them in such a short, pressured period of time.

But to claim, as Steve Baker does, that this is a UK strength is false. /1
First, it hardly needs to be said that a continuity agreement is not the same as a new agreement from scratch. The current EU agreements were negotiated with the UK as a Member State, so the UK's interests were already built in. /2
The proof of this can be seen by comparing agreements (eg. the new Japan-UK and EU-Japan) side by side. The differences are often due to the lack of need of details such as what the equivalent of 'lawyer' is in 24 official EU languages. /3
Read 13 tweets

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