British students can once again participate in the European Union’s Erasmus student exchange programme as part of major policy shift.
According to Independent, new reports have suggested that the UK is all set to rejoin Erasmus student exchange scheme of the EU as part of Brexit reset.
The Cabinet Office has said talks are “ongoing” on the issue, but reports suggest that ministers could make an announcement as soon as Wednesday, which would clear the way for university students to partake in the student exchange programme as soon as January 2027.
Sir Keir Starmer announced that the government was working on the UK joining Erasmus as part of his post-Brexit reset deal with Brussels in May. Negotiations have included work on “mutually agreed financial terms” for taking part in the scheme, which the UK left under Boris Johnson.
Britain has pushed for a discount on membership fees, which are calculated on the basis of a country’s gross domestic product (GDP), a measure of the size of the economy.
The EU is understood to have offered the government a 30 per cent reduction of fees in the first year of membership, The Times reported.
The UK pulled out of Erasmus under Johnson, launching the Turing scheme as a domestic alternative, arguing that remaining in the EU scheme would have meant a net cost of £2bn over seven years.
