Britain announced that it will rejoin the European Union’s Erasmus student exchange program in 2027, six years after it ditched the scheme during fractious Brexit negotiations.
The government said rejoining the scheme was a “huge win” for young Britons, and will ensure that “everyone, from every background, has the opportunity to study and train abroad.”
Erasmus allows students to spend a year at foreign universities while paying the same fees as their domestic peers. The agreement will also allow Prime Minister Keir Starmer to show the British public that his push to improve relations with the EU is beginning to bear fruit.
But this fruit has come at a price. Britain’s contribution for the 2027/28 academic year will be £570 million ($760 million). Although this fee represents a 30% discount to the default terms under the current trade deal with the EU, it is around twice what Britain paid to take part in Erasmus while it was still a member of the bloc.
The costly reintroduction of a pre-Brexit perk could raise uncomfortable questions about how and whether Britain is benefiting from its decision to leave the EU, which was taken in 2016 and implemented in 2020. Talk of Brexit remains something of a taboo in British politics.
Credit: cnn.com
