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

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/…

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

https://twitter.com/jim_dickinson/status/1342850650309353474

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

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 @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

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

https://twitter.com/thequentinletts/status/1337417696892383232

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

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

https://twitter.com/Cardwell_PJ/status/1337349454437953536

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

Amongst the noise about what the UK govt now says are great opportunities in an 'Australian-style deal' (i.e. no deal), bear in mind that the gov't in 2012 already looked at what the costs and benefits of being in the EU were. Anyone remember the Balance of Competences review? /1 The BoC ran 2012-14 and looked at 32 areas of EU activity, inviting evidence from politicians, thinktanks, businesses, academics, NGOs, EU institutions etc on how close EU/UK interests are, and the relative costs and benefits of EU membership. /2 gov.uk/guidance/revie…

Since we are discussing academic achievement and Brexit today, time to consider that the loss of #Erasmus and its funding will mean a lack of opportunity for students with limited financial means to gain valuable experience abroad. /1 The UK govt has not committed to seeking to remain in the programme (as non-EU Norway, Turkey etc are) but claim that an alternative will be developed. This will be very challenging and will likely be a complex and underwhelming solution. /2
timeshighereducation.com/blog/plan-stud…

I'm overwhelmed by the response to my previous thread on Brexit, so thank you to all. As requested, some thoughts on the (mostly legal) way to join/rejoin the EU. This is not an argument that the UK should but an attempt to inform the debate about how it *might* happen. /1 First, Art 50 no longer applies. The UK left on 31.1.2020 and there is no 'reversing' of this process: the UK is now a third country, even though it is still in a transition period until the end of 2020. /2

A short thread about Brexit and why I am so critical of it: not so much the idea, but the process by which it has happened, which betrays both those who voted remain *and* leave. I do not think Brexit will make the UK better off, but that is not the focus here. /1 The winner-takes-all approach of first past the post has infused Brexit in a way which ignores (a) almost half the electorate (b) Scotland and NI (c) the different shades of what 'leave' means. The present situation bears little resemblance to what was promised in the ref. /2

Of course he is playing to the crowd, and blaming Brussels always works, even after leaving the EU. But this is an assertion without evidence. /1 reuters.com/article/uk-bri… The UK became so used to seeking exceptions that it almost felt that whenever a treaty negotiation came up, the UK would have to object to something otherwise be accused of selling out. /2

This is not a surprise when an official policy of a 'hostil environment' has been in place for 10 years. Short anecdote about the visuals to the outside world who may have little hands-on insight into this world: /1 theguardian.com/politics/2020/… A few weeks ago I walked past a UK Visa and Immigration 'Premium Service Centre'. Parked in front were three Police-style vans with 'Immigration Enforcement'. The vans seemed to have barred windows, and unclear whether they were supposed to transport people or police dogs. /2

A few further thoughts on the government’s HRA/ECHR story in the Telegraph this morning. And whether I should even bother to give further thoughts. /1

https://twitter.com/darranmarshall/status/1304888017958711296

As @AdamWagner1 and others have said, this isn’t new. May wanted out of the ECHR, Raab is a long term opponent etc etc. An 80 seat majority does make a difference though, making it more of a potential reality. /2

Listening to Michel Barnier on @franceinter on the state of the negotiations. British wants ‘best of both worlds’, EU wants ‘fairness’. Notes the personal attacks on him in UK press for 4 years. Other things to spend energy on that articles in (notably) the Telegraph. ‘The rules are simple - if the UK has WTO terms .. there will be a lot of disruption. 47% of UK goods go to Europe’. Asked re UK ‘intransigence’: the regulatory freedom cannot convert into dumping. Notes rhetoric on ‘vassal state’. Regrets Brexit as a patriotic French-European.

Difficult to know where to begin with this obscene clip, a day after a young woman died of extreme poverty after claiming asylum and being unable to work. But let’s try. /1

https://twitter.com/ukhomeoffice/status/1298674067323727872

Current regulations are ‘open to abuse’. What ‘abuse’? For an immigration-obsessed government in power for 10 years you might have expected to have solved this if it is such a big issue. /2

A big day for news: but this on post-Brexit foreign, defence and security cooperation with the EU is significant. Govt: “we don’t think we need a clunky institutional framework to deliver it effectively”. This wasn't quite what was said pre-Brexit. gu.com/p/dc9j2/stw /1 I argued here that in fact the UK had tried to distance itself from the EU's foreign policy and assert its 'independence' (under successive govts) as well as resisting making the framework less 'clunky'. /2 academia.edu/38425764/The_U…

The UK's Approach to EU negotiations document is now available. What does it say about #Erasmus #ErasmusPlus? /1 assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl… @lawstrath In short, not much, but more than we had before. The Political Declaration spoke of "general principles, terms and conditions for the United Kingdom's participation in Union programmes" which includes education (point 11) /2 assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/upl…

The long awaited and much lauded 'Australian-style points system' is upon us. What is this likely to mean? /1 theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/f… First, it isn't that new. The same conditions have long-since been applied to non-EU people, who face massive costs, unbelievable bureaucracy and the constant fear that the slightest mistake or restrictive reading of the constantly changing rules will invalidate them. /2

Three years ago today I started a new job as a Professor at @lawstrath @UniStrathclyde in Glasgow, a city I had only visited twice, and in a new (for me) jurisdiction. Here are some thoughts on my three years working in Glasgow and getting to know the city and Scotland. /1 So first, a big thank you to my excellent colleagues at @lawstrath. If you don't already follow them on Twitter, please do: @chrismccork @mara_ntona @StephanieSwitz1 @CharlieIrvine @cardesa_antonio @MalcolmCombe @SartorialOrator @Derblin_Randall @barryjrodger @fsindico @scelg /2

Twenty years ago I was an Erasmus student in Lille. It gave me the confidence to then be a graduate student in Japan. In my academic jobs, I've sent literally 100s of students on Erasmus and other links. Here are some thoughts. /1

https://twitter.com/HouseofCommons/status/1214996118322532353

First, as @ProfChalmers has point out, this does not prevent the UK taking part in #Erasmus in the future, but only that the govt is not obliged to do so. So all is not lost.

https://twitter.com/ProfChalmers/status/1215184914888433664?s=20

/2