Leeds Trinity University prepares for its 2025 winter graduates; Photo: Timea Fekete
As the government has confirmed the UK rejoining Erasmus+ from 2027, students who graduated today shared their opinion on the missed opportunity.
Leeds Trinity University has celebrated its graduates this week, with two ceremonies hosted on the same day that the British government announced the country’s return to the biggest mobility scheme in Europe.
Erasmus+ is a project established by the European Union, aimed at its member states, so after Brexit, the UK withdrew from the mobilities, replacing it with the Turing Scheme.
Although the programme offers adult education, trainings, youth exchanges and school programmes, Erasmus+ is mostly known for offering students the chance to go on a semester abroad, in a country of their choosing, without having to pause their studies.
In 2020, the UK’s last year in the scheme, more than half of participants were students who benefitted from mobilities in higher education, according to the European Commission.
Today’s graduates embraced the news, although they won’t have the chance to participate, saying that they would have “wanted to cash into the Erasmus+ programme if it was available” and that the project will make it easier for students to travel.
Sam Wright, who graduated from Leeds Trinity University in 2024, shared his experience of studying in Madrid for a year through Erasmus+: “It’s life-changing really.
“The whole experience really taught me a lot, being out there, on your own, in another country…it was a real great experience and great for personal development”
Sam is now living in Berlin, and said that he first experienced living in a big city on his student exchange programme, and Madrid is still his favourite city.
The students were not the only ones delighted by the news, Adam Roche, the coordinator of societies and sports at Leeds Trinity Students Union said “it’s really important that students can do anything that’s gonna equip them for the future and enhance their university experience.”
The cost of Erasmus+ and comparison with Turing Scheme
The decision was not received positively by everyone, as rejoining the project will cost the UK £570 million in the first year. The money will cover funding for travel, visas and entry, living costs, language learning and course fees for the participants.
Priti Patel, the former Shadow Foreign Secretary said on her twitter account that Labour “are throwing away billions of pounds of hard-pressed taxpayers’ money on rejoining Erasmus” and called it a “betrayal of Brexit”.
Nick-Thomas Symonds, the Minister for EU Relations, said for the BBC that the sum is “an absolutely excellent deal” and that it will benefit “over 100 thousand people in the UK.”
The Minister said Erasmus+ is “much broader” including sports exchanges, youth work and opportunities for adult learners, in comparison with the Turing Scheme which was only directed at schools, colleges and universities.
The Turing Scheme brought some financial uncertainties for students, making for a smaller number of participants in its first year.
Sam also participated in a mobility funded by the Turing Scheme and his experience with the financing for both Erasmus+ and the Turing Scheme was not too different: “both of them were good and they were well financed.”