Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria is used to assess which countries are (a) high and (b) low cost under the Turing scheme for the purpose of funding determinations.

The UK government is supporting access to study abroad through the Turing Scheme. ​​The scheme provides grant funding for education providers and organisations to offer their students, learners and pupils undertake study or work placement across the globe. Participants can study or work anywhere in the world, subject to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office travel advice.

Education providers and other eligible organisations are able to apply to the Turing Scheme. Organisations that have been awarded funds are responsible for planning projects that will see their students undertake international placements funded through the Turing Scheme. Students do not apply directly to the Turing Scheme. This is the same institution-led model used for international placement schemes like the Erasmus+ Programme.

The Turing Scheme allocated funding for international study and work placements for 41,024 students, learners, and pupils in the 2021/22 academic year and 38,374 in the 2022/23 academic year. Funding results by sector are published on the Turing Scheme website: https://www.turing-scheme.org.uk/. Application outcomes for the 2023/24 academic year will be announced in July 2023.

Whilst the Turing Scheme focuses on study and work placements for students, the Erasmus+ Programme also included some staff mobility, and youth and adult educational mobilities. However, the European Commission does not break down the total number of UK participants in any other sector than Higher Education (HE) between staff and students. The department is therefore unable to provide all the information requested. HE student participant numbers in Erasmus+ from the UK were 15,784 in the 2015/16 academic year, 16,559 in 2016/17, 17,048 in 2017/18, 18,305 in 2018/19 and 16,596 in 2019/20. The Turing Scheme is providing funding for 23,472 HE placements in the 2022/23 academic year and provided funding for over 28,000 HE placements in 2021/22.

The Turing Scheme has an annual application window in which eligible organisations can apply for funding:

• For 2021/22 placements, the application window opened on 12 March 2021 and closed on 16 April 2021. Applicants were notified of the outcome of their application and funding amounts by 4 August 2021. There were no appeals. The period between the closing of the application window to the notification of results was 15 weeks and 5 days, during which time the applications were assessed.
• For 2022/23 placements, the application window opened on 31 March 2022 and closed on 29 April 2022. Applicants were notified of the outcome of their application by 30 June 2022 and of their funding amounts by 17 July 2022. Successful appellants were notified of their funding amounts by 16 Aug 2022. The period between the closing of the application window to the notification of initial application results was 8 weeks and 6 days, during which time the applications were assessed. Notification of funding amounts were issued 2 weeks and 3 days later. The duration of the appeals process was 15 weeks and 4 days from the initial notification to the notification of the final outcomes of the appeal.
• For 2023/24 placements, the application window opened on 14 February 2023 and closed on 6 April 2023. Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their applications and funding amounts in July 2023. Appeal outcomes will be confirmed to appellants in August 2023.

Under the Turing Scheme, participants receive grants to help cover the general costs of living while they are abroad. The amount of funding provided towards the cost of living for each participant will vary depending on the sector and destination country/territory. Destination countries/territories are grouped into three categories: Group 1 (high cost of living), Group 2 (medium cost of living) and Group 3 (lower cost of living). These categories were determined with reference to the World Bank’s International Comparison Program which compares countries’ Price Level Indexes, the country groupings used by the European Commission for the Erasmus+ Programme, and data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.