UK to rejoin EU’s Erasmus scholar exchange program. Details here

To get a closer relation with Brussels, the UK government is expected to announce an agreement to join Erasmus, the EU’s student exchange programme, on Wednesday (Dec 17). As per the plan, agreed by both parties, UK students will participate in the EU-wide scheme without paying any additional fees from January 2027.

As per the British daily, The Guardian, the programme will help the UK government demonstrate progress in its push to improve relations with the EU, after Keir Starmer declared last month that “we do need to get closer” with the bloc, and with public opinion softening. It will allow students to participate in vocational training placements and sports exchanges across the EU under the Erasmus+ scheme. Moreover, the programme will also provide college and university-based study exchanges.

There is expected to be an international fee waiver for EU students studying at UK universities under the Erasmus scheme, meaning they would pay the equivalent of domestic fees that are capped at £9,535 a year, sources told the Guardian.

In return for all this, the UK students would continue paying their standard domestic fees at their home university during their year studying in Europe as part of their UK degree courses. Any British student studying in the EU outside the scheme would pay higher international rates, while European students at UK universities would pay fees of up to £38,000 a year.