The British government has said no to any plans of taking Britain back into the EU’s Erasmus + scheme, as the government’s spokesperson revealed, disappointing young people who want to study abroad.
The UK, no longer an EU member state, after the so-called “Brexit” of 2020, has also opted not to take part as an associated third country in the new student exchange program of 2021-27.
As reported by Politico this decision is due to the fact that the Brit’s poor foreign language skills cannot justify the scheme’s expensive membership fee for the country to pay.
Nick Leake, a senior diplomat at the U.K. Mission, revealed this week that the lower participation rate of British students compared to their European counterparts—largely attributed to poor language skills—would have cost London nearly 300 million euros more annually than it received in benefits from the Erasmus+ scheme.
This decision will not only affect students from the UK, who will no longer be able to participate in the Erasmus program but will similarly affect students from European countries including Greece who will not be able to go to the UK for their Erasmus studies.
In the past around 30,200 ‘students’ chose the UK under the 2014 Erasmus+ ‘Call’. This number included traineeships as well as those studying at UK universities. The largest number came from France, Germany and Spain.
The UK’s choice to withdraw from participation as an associated third country in Erasmus+ will significantly limit its opportunities for collaboration and exchange in education, training, youth initiatives, and sports programs.
