Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding was received by (1) Wales and (2) Scotland, under the EU's Erasmus programme in each of the years 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Data published by British Council and Ecorys acting as the UK National Agency for the 2014/20 Erasmus+ Programme, is available at: https://erasmusplus.org.uk/results-and-statistics.html.
This data indicates that the amount of funding received by applicants in Wales in 2014, 2015 and 2016 was €5,134,268.50, €6,796,296.50, and €8,979,210 respectively. This funding covered Key Action 1: Learner and Staff Mobility in Higher education, Vocational education and training, Schools, Adult education, and Youth, as well as Key Action 2: Strategic Partnerships and Key Action 3: Youth Structured Dialogue.
Applicants in Scotland received €12,216,190 in 2014, €14,347,139 in 2015 and €15,099,037.80 in 2016 under the EU Erasmus+ Programme. This funding covered Key Action 1 and Key Action 2 only between 2014 and 2016 as no applicants from Scotland received funding for Key Action 3 during this period.
Asked by: Lord Kilclooney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how much funding was received by Northern Ireland under the EU Erasmus programme in (1) 2014, (2) 2015, and (3) 2016.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Funding data has been published for the 2014-20 Erasmus+ programme by the British Council and Ecorys, who were acting as the UK National Agency. This data indicates that the amount of funding received by institutions in Northern Ireland for the years 2014, 2015, and 2016 was €6,336,885, €6,108,410 and €7,414,597 respectively.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her Department's policy is on UK access to Erasmus+, in the context of the policies of the Irish Government on access to Erasmus+ in Northern Ireland.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The department understands that the Irish Government has allocated funding to allow higher education students in Northern Ireland to access the Erasmus+ Programme.
The department looks forward to continuing its collaborative work with sector stakeholders and Northern Ireland Executive officials to ensure that students in Northern Ireland are able to benefit from the opportunities available to them through the UK Government’s Turing Scheme.
For academic year 2023/24, the Turing Scheme is allocating over £2.9 million to education providers in Northern Ireland to fund international placements for over 1,000 participants, more than half of whom are students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The government does not intend to negotiate resuming participation in any aspect of Erasmus+ with the EU as a Programme Country.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an equalities impact assessment of (a) the length of placements and (b) the timing of funding payments for the Turing Scheme.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The Secretary of State for Education carried out an Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA) into the Turing Scheme during the design stage of policy development as a way of facilitating and evidencing compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty contained in Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010. This requires public authorities to have due regard to several equality considerations when exercising their functions.
Under the Turing Scheme, eligible organisations in each education sector have flexibility to design projects in line with their needs and those of their students, including setting the duration of mobilities within a broad window above 4 weeks to 12 months in higher education (HE), 2 weeks to 12 months in further education, and 3 days to 6 months in schools. The department reduced the minimum duration of HE placements to 4 weeks, which is half the shortest duration previously permitted under the Erasmus+ Programme. This is intended to widen access to international opportunities to people from disadvantaged backgrounds for whom the duration of an international placements may represent a potential barrier to participation.
The Turing Scheme is creating more opportunities than ever before for students across the UK who were previously unlikely to take up international exchanges. Of the more than 40,000 pupils, learners and students who will have the opportunity to do study and work placements across the globe this year, nearly two thirds of these opportunities will be for participants from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The Turing Scheme is a demand led, competitive programme with an annual application cycle. Successful applicant institutions are notified of their funding allocation before the start of the academic year and before the funding period for international placements commences. Once the grant agreement is in place, it is the responsibility of grant recipients to make timely requests for payments, so that they can disburse funding to their participants at the point of need.
The department will continue to work closely with the scheme’s delivery partner to collect and act on feedback from participating organisations and sector stakeholders, including on the payment mechanism and timing.
Asked by: John McNally (Scottish National Party - Falkirk)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to make changes to the Erasmus programme.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Erasmus+ is the European Union's programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe. Any changes to the programme are therefore for the European Commission to determine, and not the UK Government.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students (a) applied for and (b) received a place under the Turing Scheme in each academic year since 2021-2022.
Answered by Robert Halfon
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:
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.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
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.
Answered by Robert Halfon
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:
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.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the (a) shortest, (b) longest and (c) average time for (i) processing applications and (ii) confirming funding under the Turing scheme was in each academic year from 2021 to date.
Answered by Robert Halfon
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:
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.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students (a) applied for and (b) received a place under the Erasmus Scheme in the academic years (i) 2015-2016, (ii) 2017-2018, (iii) 2018-2019, (iv) 2019-2020 and (v) 2020-2021.
Answered by Robert Halfon
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:
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.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Erasmus work experience programme remains on the list of authorised schemes for the Government Authorised Exchange Visa; and whether the British Council remains the overarching body responsible for sponsoring visas.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Within the Immigration Rules, Appendix Government Authorised Exchange schemes provides the full list of approved schemes. The Erasmus scheme remains on the list of authorised schemes, with British Council listed as the overarching sponsor.
Appendix Government Authorised Exchange schemes can be found below: