Source:-  Gamereactor UK

The UK will rejoin the Erasmus student exchange program five years after leaving it when it left the EU. The government is expected to make the announcement on Wednesday that the UK will change how it handles international education and youth mobility.

The Erasmus student exchange program gives students and young people from the European Union money to study, train, or volunteer in other European countries for up to a year. The UK is expected to join the program again in January 2027, giving a new generation of students the chance to study and train in different parts of Europe.

The government has not yet said anything about the development because talks are still going on. But earlier this year, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said that a youth mobility scheme could be part of a new relationship with the EU. Many people think that rejoining Erasmus is one of the most important and useful things that can be done to improve cooperation in education after Brexit.

Student representatives and people who care about education are happy with the decision. Alex Stanley from the National Union of Students said the move was great news because it would let another generation of students have the Erasmus experience. He said that students had been fighting to get back into the program since the UK left, and he called the decision a huge win for the student movement.

The UK left  Erasmus student exchange program in December 2020 when the government announced its trade deal with the EU after Brexit. Boris Johnson, who was then the prime minister, said that leaving the program was a hard choice because it had gotten so expensive. Instead, the government started the Turing scheme in 2021. It was named after Alan Turing, a British mathematician and codebreaker.

The Erasmus and Turing programs are open to people in vocational education,apprenticeships, colleges, and schools, as well as university students. Supporters of Erasmus have said that the program gave students and teachers in the UK and Europe unique cultural and academic connections. Critics of the decision to leave have said that its replacement doesn't have the same level of reciprocity and long-term institutional partnerships.

The UK took part in  Erasmus student exchange program for the last time in 2020. The  Erasmus student exchange program got 144 million euros from the EU, which let 55,700 people take part in Erasmus projects overall. That year, almost 9,900 students and trainees from the UK went abroad, and 16,100 students from other countries came to the UK. Glasgow, Bristol, and Edinburgh were some of the universities that sent the most students abroad. Spain, France, and Germany were the most popular places to go.

In the 2024 and 2025 school years, the Turing scheme got 105 million pounds to pay for 43,200 placements around the world. There were 24,000 of these people in higher education, 12,100 in further education, and 7,000 in schools. Most of the people who took part were from England, then Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Ministers who came up with the Turing scheme said it was meant to help more students, including those from poor backgrounds, and to give them more help with travel costs. The plan also included placements outside of Europe, in Asia, Africa, and the Americas, which the government said showed a more global view.

It's still not clear what will happen to the Turing scheme when Erasmus comes back. Some leaders in education have said that both programs could work together, while others think that money may be moved to the European program.

Glad to hear about the decision Ian Sollom, a spokesman for Liberal Democrat universities, said that returning to Erasmus was a real chance and a clear step toward fixing what he called the bad effects of the Conservative Brexit deal. If this happens, it is likely to change the way UK students can study abroad and signal a bigger shift in relations with the EU.

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