An agreement to rejoin Erasmus – the EU’s student exchange programme – is expected to be announced on Wednesday as part of the UK government’s drive towards closer relations with Brussels.
Final details of the announcement have now been agreed by the two sides, with a plan to allow UK students to participate in the EU-wide scheme without paying any additional fees from January 2027, sources said.
The breakthrough on Erasmus 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.
British students would be able to participate in vocational training placements and sports exchanges across the EU under the Erasmus+ scheme, as well as further education college and university-based study exchanges, the Guardian understands.
UK ministers are believed to be keen to extend the benefits of the programme beyond traditional academic exchanges of undergraduates to a wider section of the population, including in leave-voting areas.
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, 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. They would be eligible for a grant to help with the additional costs of living abroad.
Any Britons 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.
The EU relations minister Nick Thomas-Symonds and his EU counterpart, Maroš Šefčovič, met in Brussels last Wednesday to take stock of the negotiations to date – and are believed to have got Erasmus over the line.
The UK quit Erasmus after Brexit, when Boris Johnson claimed the programme did not offer value for money. The Labour government agreed to reopen negotiations at the UK-EU summit last May, and has been seeking to bring down the cost of UK participation.
Before Brexit the UK was a net contributor to the scheme, with more European students coming to Britain than UK students studying abroad.
The Erasmus scheme started in 1987 as a university exchange programme but has expanded over the past decade to include work and training placements, and is regarded as an important tool of soft power and research cooperation.
The UK rejoining the £23bn Erasmus scheme has been a key demand from EU capitals as part of “reset” talks, alongside a mobility deal that would grant young Europeans the right to live and work in the UK for several years, and for Britons to do the same in Europe.
Alex Stanley, the National Union of Students (NUS) vice-president for higher education, said: “If the rumours are true, it is fantastic that another generation of students will be able to be part of the Erasmus programme. Students have been campaigning to rejoin Erasmus from the day we left, so if announced tomorrow, it will represent a huge win for the student movement.”
The Erasmus announcement will be a boost for the government, after talks to join the bloc’s £131bn defence fund broke down last month when France demanded that the UK contribute £5.7bn to EU budgets in order for British defence firms to bid for contracts.
Negotiations on food exports, energy markets and the youth mobility scheme also appeared to be stuck – but sources on both sides said they were confident that all elements of the “reset” deal would get over the line.
With the public mood on the EU shifting, Keir Starmer said at a press conference in London two weeks ago that “we do need to get closer” to the EU, arguing that people would “have to be grownup” about this and to accept that it would require “trade-offs”.
Government sources have told the Guardian that the prime minister is pursuing an “iterative” process with the EU – and that at the next annual reset summit, expected in the spring, there will be fresh issues on the table.
Separately, the UK is negotiating a youth mobility scheme with the EU. Tens of thousands of young British and European citizens would be given the right to live and work in each other’s countries under plans that ministers are aiming to finalise within the next year.
Ministers want to secure a youth mobility scheme with the EU by the end of 2026 as part of the broader reset. Labour strategists believe there is a growing political benefit to ministers stepping up their criticism of Brexit and arguing more openly for a closer relationship with Europe.
Both the Cabinet Office and the European Commission declined to comment ahead of Thomas-Symonds’ announcement on Erasmus to MPs, but Brussels sources said that the bloc was pleased to get the deal over the line.
