Five years after Brexit, London is rejoining the Erasmus+ programme. The deal is expected to see more than 100 000 young Britons take part in the scheme. The Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reports that the UK’s contribution for 2027-2028 will be around 570 million pounds.
The deal, which has been widely discussed in the media, sees the UK officially rejoin the Erasmus+ programme from January 2027.
“This is a huge win for our young people,” said Nick Thomas-Symonds, the UK’s EU secretary.
The Erasmus programme, which involves around 1.5 million young people across Europe, has been shaping Europe’s “emotional geography” since 1987: it has shaped generations of students who have learned to move abroad, to make friendships across borders, and to feel “European” rather than national. The UK’s decision to end the programme in 2020 has created difficulties for young people. The government explained this decision based on financial considerations: the country was accepting more students from Europe than it was sending its own students abroad, which was seen as an additional cost to the budget. However, the Turing Scheme, named after the famous mathematician, was created to replace it, but this attempt did not have the expected results.
