Universities minister ‘disappointed’ by failure to include Erasmus in deal

One of Scotland’ s key ministers has described the UK Government' s decision to withdraw from the Erasmus+ student exchange scheme as a “huge blow”.

Further and higher education minister Richard Lochhead said more than 2,000 Scottish students, staff and learners use the scheme every year, with Scotland attracting proportionally more Erasmus participants from across Europe than any other country in the UK.

Overall, he said, the scheme is estimated to deliver at least £7 in value for every £1 it costs in public cash, and its value to the economy has been estimated to be worth nearly £34 million annually since 2014.

Mr Lochhead said: “The loss of Erasmus is huge blow. This is simply unacceptable and we are looking at alternative options.”

The decision to withdraw from Erasmus has proven controversial. In January, Prime Minister Boris Johnson assured MPS there was “no threat to the Erasmus scheme” from Brexit negotiations. However, Michel Barnier, the EU’S chief negotiator, confirmed last week the UK Government had “decided not to participate in the Erasmus exchange programme” after the two sides were unable to agree on the cost of Britain’s continued membership.

The UK Government has since announced details a replacement £100m scheme named after Bletchley Park code breaker Alan Turing. The Turing scheme will provide funding for around 35,000 students to go on placements and exchanges globally from September.

However, Mr Lochhead said the scheme was a “watered down” version of Erasmus.

“After years of discussions and meetings, the UK Government has made these decisions irrespective of the views of the devolved administrations,” he said.

"We found out from media reports more details of the UK’S alternative scheme, which is a watered down and less wellfunded version of Erasmus and it’s not even an exchange programme because there is no support for visits to Scotland.”

“I have since spoken to my UK counterpart and expressed our profound disappointment that the UK chose to abandon Erasmus, which plays such a key role in opening up opportunities and horizons for so many young Scots.