About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

LOG IN
LOG IN


2021 Pecs J. Int'l & Eur. L. 9 (2021)
From Erasmus to Turing: What Now for Study Mobility between the UK and the EU? Damage Limitation and New Opportunities

handle is hein.journals/pjiel2021 and id is 10 raw text is: Pecs Journal of International and European Law - 2021/I. From Erasmus to Turing: What now for Study Mobility between the UK and the EU? Damage Limitation and New Opportunities' CHERRY JAMES Senior Lecturer, Law Division London South Bank University On 24h December 2020 the EU and the UK concluded the Trade and Cooperation Agreement and announced, contrary to widespread hopes and expectations, that the UK would not remain associated with Erasmus+ 2021-7 but would instead establish its own mobility programme, the Turing Scheme, available to fund student mobility across the globe for UK based students. This article considers the reasons for this decision and various features of the new scheme. Concern is expressed at the implications for collaborative work between universities of the absence offunding for students coming to the UK for study periods, and for staff mobility; on the other hand, the em- phasis on funding opportunities for disadvantage students is welcomed, as is funding for very short study periods. The position of Switzerland, no longer a full member of Erasmus since 2014, and the lessons for the UK afforded by the experience of Switzerland, are considered. Keywords: Brexit, study mobility, Erasmus Programme, Turing Scheme, Swiss-European Mobility Programme, student exchanges, short term study mobility 1. Introduction We were told that the Erasmus Programme created 'the first generation of young Europeans';2 'tru- ly European citizens' .3 These statements were made with pride, wonderment and aspiration. They were made at a time when the all EU Member States, including the UK, participated in Erasmus. Since then, the UK has voted to leave the EU in the referendum of 23 June 2016, formally left the EU on 31 January 2020, entered, by virtue of the Withdrawal Agreement,4 a Transition Period during which many aspects of the UK's erstwhile membership of the EU remained, for practical purposes, unchanged, and on 24 December 2020 concluded, after painful negotiations, the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), which came into effect upon the expiry of the Transition ' This article reprises the author's article in this journal written in the immediate aftermath of the Brexit referendum: C. James, Brexit: What now for Study Mobility between the UK and the EU? PJIEL Vol 2, 2016, pp. 7-20. 2 U. Eco, It's culture, not war, that cements European identity. The Guardian (London, 26/1/12), https://www.theguard- ian.com/world/2012/jan/26/umberto-eco-culture-war-europa (8 April 2015). 3 J. Figel, (2007) 20 Years of Erasmus: From Higher Education to European Citizenship, Erasmus 20th Anniversary Closing Conference, Lisbon. 4 Agreement on the withdrawal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the European Union and the European Atomic Energy Community (2019/C 384 1/01) 9