Brexit Britain’s new student programme set out to beat EU’s by over 50% in year one

Government’s Turing Scheme planned 28,000 students, versus 10,000 under EU’s Erasmus+

Another Remain campaign myth is put to the sword by the blade of Brexit reality

On Monday we looked at the EU’s highly expensive Erasmus+ scheme and how little it had been used by British students to study abroad. Today we look at the UK Government’s replacement: the Turing Scheme, based on the plans when it was announced. Then in the final part of this series we will evaluate its performance against these plans and ask whether this is another ‘Brexit bonus’.

A three-part CIBUK and Facts4EU.Org explainer – for students, parents, politicians, and the public

What did the Department for Education announce?

The Government initially planned for a total of 40,000 students and pupils to study and work abroad under the new Turing student exchange programme, spanning 150 countries. 28,000 of these placements were designated for university students. The DfE says that this compares with 18,300 under the EU’s Erasmus+ scheme. (Facts4EU.Org disputes this figure and believes the numbers are even better – see below.) The total budget in the first academic year (2021-22) was £110m.

Brexit Britain continues to go global

As part of the new global scheme, Australia, Canada, Japan and the United States are amongst over 150 international destinations where UK students will be funded to take up work and study placements – as well as EU countries like Germany and France.

The DfE said: “At the heart of the Government’s post-Brexit vision is an ambition to create a truly Global Britain where we learn, work and trade with countries well beyond Europe’s frontiers. The Turing Scheme, which has replaced the UK’s participation in Erasmus+, gives young people the opportunity to benefit from working and studying abroad, while boosting our ties with international partners in the process.”

The Remain campaign’s Project Fear attacked the loss of Erasmus+

The subject of Brexit denying students the right to study abroad came up many times during the Referendum campaign and in the years that followed. Here is one example, from the campaign arm for young people called ‘Our Future Our Choice’ (OFOC) led by Femi Oluwole.

The Turing Scheme was designed to benefit UK students – we will no longer be paying for EU27 students

For years Facts4EU.Org has published reports on the EU’s Erasmus+ programme. We continually pointed out that twice as many EU27 students were benefiting from coming to the UK compared to UK students going to the EU. We also highlighted the fact that far more UK students went to the United States than to any EU country.

© Brexit Facts4EU.Org – click to enlarge

Finally, did Gavin Williamson got his sums wrong?

Er, no. It appears that they made the same mistake that so many Remainers have made. The figure for outgoing UK students under Erasmus+ in that year was in fact 9,993, according to the EU’s own official figures. It would appear that the Department for Education under Gavin Williamson had mistakenly included ‘trainees’ (work placements, apprentices, etc) in its total.

Adding in trainees takes the EU’s figure for UK nationals to 18,305. If the UK Government’s new scheme provides “28,000 placements for university students”, as they said, then they should have compared this to the EU’s Erasmus figure for UK students, which is only 9,993. That would make the comparison chart look like this:-

© Brexit Facts4EU.Org – click to enlarge

Source: UK Department for Education statement, 03 Aug 2021,

and official EU statistics for UK students in 2019

– the last pre-Covid year.

Finally, the vastness of the global opportunities for the UK’s students compared to EU’s Erasmus+

The UK’s Turing scheme of 160 countries (see tomorrow’s report) contrasts with the EU’s Erasmus programme which has just 33 countries formally approved. Here is the EU Commission’s official list as of 24 July 2023.

The EU27 : Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Malta, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden.

Then you have:

• North Macedonia
• Serbia
• Iceland
• Liechtenstein
• Norway
• Turkey

All other countries are subject to all manner of EU rules and regulations. If the UK’s young people don’t believe us, here is what the EU Commission says :-

“The following countries can take part in certain Actions of the Programme, subject to specific criteria or conditions (consult Part B of this Guide for the exact list of eligible countries for each specific action).

“Funding will be allocated to organisations in the countries within their territories as recognised by international law. Funding must respect any restrictions placed on EU external assistance imposed by the European Council. Applications have to be in line with the overall EU values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities as foreseen in Article 2 of the Treaty of the European Union.”

Good luck with that.

The original article can be found here.

CIBUK thanks its Affiliated Organisation Brexit Facts4EU.Org for permission to republish this article.

Main image: Montage © Facts4EU.Org 2023