My son is not happy. Despite having got into the Norwich-based University of East Anglia (UEA) and now having been placed, as part of his French degree, to study at Toulouse University next September, the funding crisis the UEA is facing affects his day-to-day studies there. Staff appear demoralised, over-worked, uncertain as to their own futures, as the UEA faces an ever-worsening funding crisis, and although he supports the strike action staff have taken, this has had an inevitable impact on his education.
However, is this a self-inflicted wound, another consequence of the vote taken over seven years ago to leave the EU.
The funding crisis – sadly not unique to the UEA – has been caused by three factors: inflation, shortfalls on the pension schemes, and the fact that since Brexit, the number of EU students enrolling in UK universities has more than halved.
“No downsides” indeed.
UK universities and students missing out
Foreign students, whose fees to the universities are not capped in the same way as those from UK-based students, have been a valuable source of income for centuries. The roll-call of famous names who studied at our seats of learning includes Mahatma Ghandi, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Bill Clinton, Harper Lee and Albert Einstein. Having joined the EEC, as was, we became part of the Erasmus programme when it launched in 1987. Originally providing funding for EU citizens to study across the EU, it was expanded to include education, training, youth and sport in Europe and beyond, earning the “plus”. Last year, Erasmus+ spent over €4bn on providing learning opportunities to over 1.2mn students able to benefit from it. Sadly, that no longer includes anyone from the UK.
In January 2020, “Boris” Johnson assured the commons that “there was no threat to the Erasmus+ scheme.”
All lies and jest, as the song says; because by the December of that year, he announced that we would be withdrawing from Erasmus+ (at an estimated cost to the UK of more than £200m per year). However there was no need for alarm, because a new scheme, known as Turing, would more than adequately replace it.
If, as Wilde said, “experience is the name we give to our mistakes” then cynicism is perhaps the name we give to our experience, because the cynics amongst you may suspect that Turing has not ended up being the replacement to Erasmus+ that was promised, and such has been the case. Concerns about a scheme, still in its infancy, have already been raised in the Commons. During a cost-of-living crisis, the funding available to a UK student seeking to study abroad fell from a maximum of £600 a month under Erasmus+ to £490 a month under Turing. As a result, a scheme designed to be inclusive for those from disadvantaged backgrounds is anything but.
Polling shows a majority for rejoining Erasmus+
A poll by WeThink Polling (run by Omnisis) carried out in early December asked:
Do you think the UK should join the EU’s Erasmus+ programme for youth exchanges again?
Leave voters and Conservative voters are more in favour of joining, rather than staying out of the scheme.
Removing Don’t Knows (which is standard practice) the results become even more stark at 74% overall for joining Erasmus+ vs 26% for not, with both Conservative and Leave voters, specifically, split 57% vs 43% in favour of joining it.
The poll followed on the back of a campaign by the Young European Movement entitled simply “Erasmus Embrace” which has the backing of the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. You can join him in signing the petition online at this link, and I urge you to do so. As Klajdi Selimi, President of the Young European Movement, said:
“The question of whether or not to embrace the Erasmus+ Programme should not be seen as a geopolitical issue but as a matter concerning the general public good. To embrace Erasmus is to offer young people in our nation the best opportunities they have for succeeding in life – something we can all support.”
Costs vs benefits?
One of the tropes, as those who know me, which I tend to over-use is “cost / benefit analysis”. The costs of withdrawing from Erasmus+ are being seen not only at our universities, who are forced to make ever-more unpalatable decisions about the breadth of subjects they can teach, and where the loss of specialised expertise in those disciplines will never be replaced. The opportunities for our children are also being lost: the ability to immerse oneself in a foreign culture, become bilingual, gain both experience and expertise.
The benefits? I would welcome sight of any benefit. Jacob Rees-Mogg, claimed that the 18% decrease in the monthly stipend provided by Turing as opposed to Erasmus+ represented a “more level playing field”. Only in the world of such Orwellian doublethink can our leaving Erasmus+ be considered a good thing. But there again, perhaps an educated electorate is something those currently in power would be happiest to live without.
