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The UK is set to rejoin the EU’s Erasmus+ student exchange scheme, in the latest move by Sir Keir Starmer’s government to try to forge closer relations with the bloc.
An agreement under which Britain would return to Erasmus in 2027 is expected to be announced on Wednesday, according to UK and EU officials briefed on the matter.
Erasmus enables students to spend a year at a university in a partner country while paying the same fees as their domestic counterparts.
Negotiations between the UK and the EU have focused on Britain’s financial contribution to the scheme, and talks on the details of the agreement were continuing on Tuesday night.
UK ministers are expected to argue they have only signed up to an Erasmus deal as a result of EU concessions on cost, and highlight how they recently rejected the case for Britain to join the bloc’s new rearmament programme on the grounds that the terms were too expensive.
However, UK ministers are also expected to trumpet the opportunity for British students to study abroad under Erasmus as a tangible example of improved relations with the EU.
Starmer has promised young people, who voted for his Labour government in droves, that he would enhance opportunities for them to live and work in the EU.
A deal to return the UK to Erasmus will be welcomed by British and EU universities, which have urged the two sides to reach an agreement given the scheme’s popularity with both students and administrators.
Tim Bradshaw, chief executive of the Russell Group of UK universities, said: “We’re delighted at the UK’s association to Erasmus+ . . . Erasmus+ opens up fantastic opportunities for students, adult learners and young people to all benefit from new experiences and learning. It will also renew the huge contributions that EU students and staff make to life on our university campuses.”
The UK opted to exit Erasmus after it quit the EU in 2020. The then British prime minister Boris Johnson argued that Erasmus represented poor value for UK taxpayers because the country contributed “significantly more” than it received as a result of a low take-up of the scheme by UK students.
Britain contributed £1.17bn to Erasmus between 2015 and 2019. Ministers in Johnson’s government told parliament in 2021 that the scheme would have required a £2bn UK contribution for the five-year period after Brexit.
Nick Thomas-Symonds, Starmer’s minister responsible for UK relations with the EU, told the Financial Times in May that he was open to Britain rejoining Erasmus if it was based on “sensible proposals” from Brussels.
The expected deal is part of a wider attempt by Starmer to reset UK relations with the EU, although it comes just weeks after Britain rejected the chance to join the bloc’s new €140bn EU defence fund called the Security Action for Europe.
Separately from Erasmus, the UK and the EU are aiming to create a youth mobility scheme that would allow 18 to 30-year-olds to work and travel more freely in each other’s countries.
The UK and EU also hope to conclude a so-called veterinary agreement that would streamline food export rules, and re-link their carbon emissions trading schemes, with a target to implement arrangements by the middle of 2027, according to British ministers.
These plans were unveiled by Starmer and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in May.