• A new £100 million scheme for students to study and work abroad will replace the European Unions’ Erasmus+ programme.

• Turing Scheme will receive £100 million worth of funding for students in higher education to study abroad, to support around 35,000 students.

• Students from disadvantaged backgrounds will receive extra support and funding to ensure all students are able to access the programme.

New proposals for the Turing Scheme, the replacement to the EU’s Erasmus+ foreign study scheme, have been released by the Government to start in September 2021. The scheme will not be limited to EU nations and will see similar numbers of students, approximately 35,000 in higher education, being able to study abroad for a year of their time at university, with over £100 million in funding.

The next Erasmus+ programme, starting this September, will have an increased budget of €26 billion, but would have seen the United Kingdom contribute £2 billion more than it would get out of the programme. The EU was unwilling to meet terms set by the United Kingdom and so from this September the United Kingdom will be withdrawing from the programme. Students currently completing their Erasmus year will continue to do so uninterrupted.

The Turing scheme announced by the Government will see increased scope and opportunities for students, with mobility not being limited to the EU. It will include countries further flung and aims to deliver a better value for money for British taxpayers.

The new scheme will also target students from disadvantaged backgrounds and areas which did not previously have many students benefiting from Erasmus+, making life-changing opportunities accessible to everyone across the country.

The Government’s levelling-up agenda will make sure students are offered increased rates of funding if needed, as students from advantaged backgrounds have been found to be 1.7 times more likely to participate in Erasmus+ schemes since 2014.

Commenting, Christopher Pincher MP said:

‘It is fantastic to see such a great opportunity to establish the United Kingdom as a world-leading provider of higher education.’

‘This is a vast improvement on the Erasmus+, with the Turing Scheme allowing universities the freedom to determine new international relationships based on what is best for their students. Not withstanding the new and better opportunities for those students who could not previously access it.’