Happy New Year. You may have heard or seen in the media, talk of a new UK student mobility programme called the Turing scheme which was announced by the Prime Minister on Christmas Eve, as the UK’s answer to Erasmus+. I would like to put you in the picture, as far as I can at this stage, as to what this all means and how it will affect future student mobility.
Erasmus+
We have sufficient Erasmus funding, and permission from the National Agency, to fund outward mobility, both student and staff, up until May 2023. Our European partners have been told by their respective National Agencies that the current Inter Institutional Agreements between partners will be extended to include academic year 21/22. So for the coming academic year 21/22 we shall continue to operate under the existing Erasmus+ programme, and already have the funding in place for student (and staff) mobility, whether it be for study or work. In the following year, we may still have some residual funding to fund at least our outbound students, even if that does not apply to our inbound students, we shall have to wait and see.
Turing Scheme
We understand that the new scheme is to start in September 2021, and will provide similar opportunities for students to study and work abroad as the Erasmus+ programme, but there are 2 major differences. Firstly it will include destinations outside of Europe which will be a great help to those students who currently chose to go to countries such as Canada and US, China and Japan, and in future also Australia. However it is a one way scheme and only funds students going from the UK, so our partners will have to find alternative ways to fund their outgoing students to the UK. There doesn’t appear to be any reciprocity which for some may be an issue, and so may withdraw the numbers, which of course could affect the outgoing numbers. Also we don’t know as of yet how and when we can apply for funding, and how much will be made available, so there is still a long way to go until it’s fully up and running, but we do intend to apply for funding to use alongside our existing Erasmus funds, but for non-European destinations only.
So in the meantime, if your students ask about applying to the Turing scheme (we’ve already had a couple ask already!), please let them know that the University is making every effort to find out more, and they might be eligible for funding via this scheme, but that in the meantime, if they are planning a European destination, then they will still be able to apply via us for an Erasmus+ grant.