Students assured funds for Europe placements
Funding for students who are required to complete a year abroad in Europe will be guaranteed beyond the end of the current Erasmus programme in December 2020, the University has announced.
Undergraduate students beginning their Languages and Cultures degree in 2018 and 2019 are assured that the levels of financial support available to them during their mandatory year abroad will be maintained.
Language skills
University leaders say the move is in recognition of the importance of language skills in the global economy and that uncertainty over the cost of study abroad may deter students from pursuing certain degrees.
We have taken this step in order to reassure those students required to undertake periods of mandatory study and work abroad in Europe. Guaranteeing that their European placements will not be affected by the current uncertainty is crucial to their education and future. While there is much discussion still to take place over longer term arrangements - and we hope that the UK is able to fully participate in the new Erasmus Programme – it is very important that we offer this guarantee so potential students know that they will not be financially disadvantaged by the changes that will follow Brexit.
Contingency Planning
The University estimates that the required level of support will be broadly equivalent to that provided under the current Erasmus+ programme, which concludes in 2019/2020.
The University is also in the process of contingency planning with European partners in the event that the UK is not part of the new Erasmus programme from 2021-27.
Fruitful relationship
Edinburgh has long and deep links with Erasmus. It is the UK’s largest recipient of Erasmus+ funding and the number one destination in Scotland for inbound Erasmus students.
The University has participated in the Erasmus initiative since 1987 and has received approximately €18 million of funding from the programme to facilitate student and staff mobility.
More than 7000 Edinburgh students and staff have studied, trained, volunteered or taught abroad.
The University has more than 500 Erasmus exchange links with more than 300 European partners.
Over the past 30 years, more than nine million people around the world have benefited from Erasmus opportunities.