When Julia Quirós Rodríguez, from Cadiz, in Spain, dreamed about doing a student exchange under the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme she always imagined coming to the UK. But her university warned her off Brexit Britain, and she is studying at the University of Galway, in Ireland, instead.
Last year Rodríguez had to choose eight European universities where she would like to do her Erasmus+ exchange. As she is studying English, her choices were all in Britain. However, her university asked her to change her options because, like many EU universities, it feared being left to pay high student fees if Britain were shut out of the scheme, post-Brexit.
“They said it was too much of a risk planning to go to the UK not knowing what is going to happen with Brexit,” she says. “Economically and academically it is a big risk for our universities. If the Erasmus agreement is broken, what happens then?”
Rodríguez says Erasmus “has always been my dream” – her uncle was one of the first Spanish students to benefit from the scheme when it launched more than 30 years ago.
When she arrived in Ireland, she admits, she found it overwhelming, not least because she couldn’t understand the Irish accent. But she has made good friends, improved her English, and describes it as a “great experience”.
“I think the UK should definitely fight for Erasmus,” she says.
But many fear there is no appetite for such a fight in the UK, with a Liberal Democrat-backed amendment to the withdrawal agreement bill requiring the government to seek continued participation in Erasmus+ being defeated by Conservative MPs earlier this month.
Boris Johnson, pushed in prime minister’s questions, said there was “no threat” to the scheme. “UK students will continue to be able to enjoy the benefits of exchanges with our European friends and partners,” he told MPs. However, many remain fearful about the future of Erasmus, which is known to have few supporters in the Treasury and is expected to be a long way from the top of the negotiating list with the EU.
Vivienne Stern, director of the international arm of Universities UK (UUK), the vice-chancellors’ body, describes the prime minister’s statement as “very encouraging” but says: “It was not clear whether the PM was talking about us continuing to participate in this programme, or whether we would seek association to the next programme starting in January 2021. And then, of course, it is going to be a subject for negotiation.”
Students of any subject can do an Erasmus year, but it is language departments, many of which are already struggling to attract enough students, that have most to lose.
Marion Schmidt, professor of French literature and film at Edinburgh University and president of the association of university professors and heads of French, says being barred from Erasmus would be “absolutely disastrous” for her subject. “We are in limbo. The current second-year students know they can go abroad on Erasmus+ next year, but beyond that we don’t know and it is causing a lot of anxiety on campus.”
Schmidt realised at a meeting with French universities last year that Brexit was already harming student exchange. “Some partner institutions were saying that they were stopping sending new students to the UK because of the uncertainty. A lot of institutions are worried that they might be left footing the bill for fees at British universities.”
Faced with declining demand, seven universities have stopped offering modern language degrees in the past year, and more than 50 have cut courses or closed departments since 2000, according to the University Council of Modern Languages (UCML).
Spending a year abroad - teaching, studying or working as an intern – is a compulsory part of most modern language degrees in the UK, and a big reason why many students choose to study a language in the first place. Universities say Erasmus+ makes that year straightforward, providing generous living grants with top-ups for poorer students, a simple application process, and the guarantee that credits earned on their exchange would be recognised by their home university.
