LONDON — The British government is moving ahead with developing a global student exchange program as an alternative to the EU’s Erasmus+ scheme.
That’s raising concerns the U.K. will walk away from the hugely popular European program from January — a decision that British universities warn would be detrimental to their connections to the Continent and could also see thousands of European students miss out on exchanges to Britain.
A spokesperson confirmed the U.K. government is “preparing a wide range of options for future exchange programmes, including a domestic alternative to Erasmus,” as it considers how to promote the country’s education connections after Brexit.
With negotiations between London and Brussels over the Erasmus+ scheme currently blocked, U.K. universities minister Michelle Donelan told an online event on Wednesday that it was “prudent” to prepare an alternative.
A British-led scheme, she said, would also give the U.K. “an opportunity to be more international,” since it would extend beyond universities in Europe. That follows suggestions that remaining a member of the EU program after Brexit doesn’t fit with the government’s Global Britain ambitions.
Although Donelan stressed the U.K. is “still very much open to participate” in Erasmus+ from 2021, her words have not reassured the British university sector, which fears the U.K. is taking strides away from the EU programs.
Vivienne Stern, director of Universities UK International, a lobby group that represents British universities around the world, warned that the government “is increasingly moving” toward a domestic alternative even if officials maintain the idea is still plan B.
“A lot of work has been going on behind the scenes to develop it. This is one of the reasons why I’m so nervous about the Erasmus+ discussions, that there has always been a risk that plan B becomes plan A,” she said.
Stern warned the British option could be far less reaching, at least initially. Universities UK International has estimated that leaving the European exchange program could cost Britain up to £243 million a year because of the economic value of international students, and deprive young people of valuable work experience.
Erasmus+ would also be weakened without the involvement of British universities: Around 32,000 European students go to the U.K. every year on an EU grant.
Deep freeze
With the U.K. set to drop out of all EU programs at the end of the year, negotiations for Britain to participate in Erasmus+ beyond December are not going brilliantly.
Donelan in March said the British government was “open to participation in elements of Erasmus+ on a time-limited basis, provided that the terms are in the U.K.’s interests.”
London wants to participate in the mobility part — by far the biggest element — but not in the so-called cooperation actions, which fund leaders of universities across Europe to come together to discuss areas of common interest, such as diversity.
But there’s little appetite in Brussels for what is viewed as a plea for special treatment.
Thomas Jorgensen, senior policy coordinator at the European University Association, said partial association to Erasmus+ is not a model foreseen in the program’s rules, and said the reasons for the U.K.’s request is “a mystery.”
“You would have to change the European legal structure and invent something just for Britain, and that is something that the EU has been very reluctant to do. What they want is a unicorn,” he said.
Jo Johnson, a former U.K. universities minister and brother of the prime minister, this week outlined the case for a global scheme to replace participation in Erasmus+, arguing: “In its post-Brexit vision for Global Britain, simply continuing as a member of Erasmus is unlikely to appeal to this government.”
The U.K. should enhance its relevance through mobility schemes “not just to its closest 33 neighbours but also to the growing powers and developing nations of the world, from India and China to Nigeria and Brazil,” he wrote in a report for King’s College London. “There is little reason to ignore the experiences and knowledge these countries offer to U.K. students in an exclusive relationship with its closer European neighbours.”
Jorgensen said it came as a surprise for many on the Continent that such a small but successful program had become such a thorny topic, and said there is nothing stopping the U.K. setting up a global program in addition to remaining in the European scheme.
“The door is open, there’s no need to choose between Erasmus+ and a national mobility program. Nobody expects Germany to choose between Erasmus and the DAAD [the German Academic Exchange Service],” he said.
Money problems
Not everything is looking rosy for a domestic scheme. Although there seems to be consensus in the British higher education sector for the scheme to be run by the British Council, which already acts as the national agency for Erasmus+, question marks remain over the budget for a new program.
Unlike Erasmus+, in which students from all over Europe are funded centrally by the European Commission using allocations from the EU budget, the British government would only fund its own students.
That means the U.K. would have to strike bilateral deals with other governments interested in funding their own students to go on an exchange to British universities. That work has not yet started, according to Stern.
Some of the program’s cost could come from the U.K.’s international aid budget, Johnson proposed, but he admitted that will not be sufficient. There is precedent in using aid money to fund research projects linking scholars from Britain and developing nations, but the government might struggle to justify using development money to support Brits abroad.
The economic crisis caused by the coronavirus could also limit the size of the U.K.’s scheme, Stern said, urging the Treasury to reassure universities that it remains “willing to fund something of the ambition and the scale that the Department for Education is considering.”
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