Ben Friel
Ben Friel said the UK rejoining the Erasmus scheme would make the process easier and more secure
Erasmus is officially back for students in the UK – and for those in Northern Ireland it could be “massively good news”.
The government has announced the UK will rejoin the scheme from 2027, six years after ending its participation due to leaving the European Union (EU).
The scheme enables students to spend a year studying at European universities as part of their UK degree courses without paying extra fees, and vice versa for European students.
It had long been a mainstay of student life, but, in Northern Ireland, uncertainty followed the scheme’s end – the UK replaced Erasmus with its own Turing scheme in 2021, while the Irish government also provided €2m (£1.75m) funding for students in Northern Ireland to access the EU’s Erasmus+ programme.
Now, with the UK rejoining Erasmus, what does this mean for students in Northern Ireland hoping to take their studies on the road to Europe?
What will Erasmus mean for Northern Ireland students?
For Ben Friel, the change is good news and very welcome.
The president of the National Union of Students–Union of Students in Ireland (NUS-USI) said the feedback on the current Erasmus and Turing schemes was that they were “really difficult for our students to access”.
“The way you had to access it [Erasmus] before was you had to do an application through the Irish government funding portal
“This will make the process a lot simpler, a lot more built-in to how our higher education system works.”
Mr Friel said the Irish funding scheme, while providing Northern Ireland students with a “back door” into Erasmus was “limited and always up for reconsideration”.
“So it’s good to have it through the UK government and now it’s obviously more secure for us,” he said.
He said the previous scheme was “a better system, even in terms of people knowing what Erasmus was”.
“Erasmus had been about for years and years and people had always been able to access it.
“It worked, it was smooth, it was simple, students knew it was there.
“And obviously there’s more countries than just EU countries in Erasmus so it’s good that we’re now rejoining that.”
Rebekah Robinson
Rebekah Robinson said a generation of young people had missed out on Erasmus
Rebekah Robinson, vice president of education at Ulster University Students Union, said the government’s announcement about the scheme was very welcome.
“Erasmus enables students, to study, train or volunteer in other European countries for up to a year without incurring additional tuition fees,” she said.
“It’s a generation of young people that have been denied access to the incredible experiences provided by Erasmus”
Of the Turing Scheme that has been operating, she said “it was really important that the government did put in place a scheme, it just wasn’t as well known and it didn’t have the reputation of Erasmus”.
Ms Robinson said Erasmus was a simpler process to go through, had more support and would open up more places for students.
She said Ulster University staff were ready to help students with their Erasmus applications.
‘Lifelong skills’
Amy Smith, the president of Queen’s Students’ Union, said the “accessibility to learning is really going to be life changing”.
“It gives them [students] sort of guaranteed access to life changing study and really good training opportunities across Europe,” she told BBC News NI.
“I think it really is going to bring students into Northern Ireland as well as sending them abroad, sort of enriching that campus and skills that our students face.”
Ms Smith said spending time abroad at different institutions can give students “lifelong skills that they can use for future employers”.
“I think sharing cultures is amazing whenever it comes to university and I think because Erasmus is that two-way exchange programme, it’s really going to help students have lots of experience and worldwide experiences whenever it comes to finding jobs in the future,” Ms Smith added.
What will the Irish government do now?
Ireland’s Department of Further and Higher Education told BBC News NI it had committed to funding for Northern Ireland students “until such time as new arrangements between the UK and the EU was put in place”.
It said it will “await finalisation of the new arrangements and will engage with NI higher education institutions in due course”.
The department added that the funding of €2m per year had been in place for three years and benefitted students at Queen’s, Ulster University, St Mary’s University College and Stranmillis College, as well as six regional further education colleges.
What are Northern Ireland’s universities saying?
Queen’s president and vice chancellor, Prof Sir Ian Greer said mobility schemes, like Erasmus, “offer valuable life experience and cultural learning”.
“Queen’s University Belfast has a long history of participation in the Erasmus programme.
“So we are delighted to learn of the UK’s re-association with the programme, which will enable a range of opportunities for our students and staff, as well as collaborative institutional partnerships.”
Ulster University also welcomed the UK’s announcement, adding: “We recognise the importance of offering a wide-range of global opportunities for different types of learners and know how transformational student mobility can be, so further opportunities are to be welcomed.”
How many students benefited from scheme?
In 2020, the last year in which the UK participated in Erasmus, the scheme received €144m (£126m) of EU funding for 55,700 people to take part in Erasmus projects overall.
The UK sent out 9,900 students and trainees to other countries as part of the scheme that year, while 16,100 came the other way.
In comparison, the Turing scheme – named after British mathematician and codebreaker Alan Turing – received £105m of funding in the last academic year.
This paid for 43,200 placements, with 24,000 of those being in higher education, 12,100 in further education and 7,000 in schools.