Lochhead says exiting Erasmus a ‘blow’ as Tories claim Turing will be better

BRITAIN’S withdrawal from the EU’S Erasmus student exchange programme will be “a huge blow,” Richard Lochhead, the Scottish Government’s Universities Minister, has claimed, saying Edinburgh is now looking at possible alternatives.

Mr Lochhead lamented the decision to leave the scheme as part of the country’s departure from the EU at the end of this week, despite Boris Johnson announcing it will be replaced by a worldwide alternative named after the wartime codebreaker Alan Turing, which the UK Government says will be better than Erasmus as it will benefit more disadvantaged youngsters. Erasmus, which the UK joined in 1987, allows students to study and work across Europe and is used by more than 2,000 Scottish students and staff annually.

Nicola Sturgeon has condemned the UK Government’s decision as “cultural vandalism”.

The First Minister’s colleague echoed the criticism, declaring:

“The loss of Erasmus is huge blow. This is simply unacceptable and we are looking at alternative options,” and claimed the decision was taken “irrespective of the views of the devolved administrations”.

Scottish Government figures suggest that the value of the Erasmus scheme to the economy has been nearly £34 million annually since 2014.

While students in Scotland will be prevented from participating, their counterparts in Northern Ireland will still have access to the programme.

Mr Lochhead also criticised the UK Government’s alternative, the Turing programme, which he described as a “watered down and less well-funded” version of Erasmus.

Earlier, Michael Gove defended the decision of the UK Government after the Prime Minister in January insisted that it would not abandon the Erasmus scheme. Then, Mr Johnson knocked back fears, raised by the SNP’S Douglas Chapman, that the exchange programme was going to be terminated by the UK Government, telling the backbencher he was “talking through the back of his neck”.

Mr Johnson insisted: “There is no threat to the Erasmus scheme and we will continue to participate in it. UK students will continue to be able to enjoy the benefits of exchanges with our European friends and partners, just as they will be able to continue to come to this country.”

Mr Gove explained the UK Government had wanted to take part in Erasmus but “only on terms that were fair to the taxpayer”. Those offered by Brussels were not, he argued.

“The hundreds of millions of pounds additionally it would have cost us are better spent on making sure that disadvantaged children from less privileged backgrounds, who were often those who didn’t benefit from schemes like Erasmus, get a better education.”

Asked if students would fare better under the Turing programme, Mr Gove indicated they would, saying it would be a better “global” scheme.