Over 40,000 students may be offered places in the new Turing scheme, though costs may not be fully covered.
The government’s replacement for the Europe-wide Erasmus student exchange scheme appears to be off to a flying start – though experts warn that the final number of young people participating will most likely fall far short of the government’s initial expectations.
More than 40,000 young people will be able to “work and study abroad” later this year, according to the Department for Education, thanks to the new Turing scheme, which was introduced by the government to compensate for the UK’s withdrawal from the Erasmus scheme last year.
According to the DfE, 120 universities, along with schools and further education colleges, have applied for a share of the £110 million scheme to fund work and study placements. The 40,000 total is said to include 28,000 university student placements in 2021-22, which is more than the 18,300 placements under the Erasmus scheme in the 2018-19 academic year.
According to Paul James Cardwell, a professor at City Law School at the University of London who has compared the Erasmus and Turing schemes, “all opportunities to study abroad are welcome,” but “we need to be clear about how many students will actually go abroad, which will probably be much lower than the numbers that have been bid for.”
“We also don’t know whether these placements have been arranged and confirmed and, crucially, how much funding will be allocated to each participant.”
According to the DfE, the new scheme will allow young people to “be funded to take up work and study placements” in 150 countries. Many of the countries listed by the DfE, however, have border entry restrictions due to the Covid pandemic, which will continue to impede participation in the coming year.
The education secretary, Gavin Williamson, expressed satisfaction that 48 percent of applicants are expected to be from disadvantaged backgrounds, as part of the government’s targeting of areas with low uptake of the Erasmus program or its successor, Erasmus+.
Disadvantaged students will be eligible for funding to cover extra expenses such as visas and passports under the Turing scheme.
“The chance to work and learn in a country far from home is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – which broadens minds, sharpens skills, and improves outcomes. But until now it has been an opportunity disproportionately enjoyed by those from the most privileged backgrounds,” Williamson said.
The 40,000 applications far outnumber the DfE’s projections for Turing’s first year. However, university administrators stated that a portion of the increase compared to Erasmus was due to the inclusion of existing exchanges that occurred outside of Erasmus, such as language programs.
“The Conservatives’ rhetoric on the Turing scheme does not match reality,” said Matt Western, the shadow universities minister. Ministers claim to be targeting disadvantaged students, but their scheme does not cover tuition fees, making this incredible opportunity inaccessible to many students.”
Cardwell stated that it was too early to tell if Turing would be a suitable replacement for Erasmus. “Even if students can travel to the host country during the pandemic, if individual funding does not cover travel costs, the nu
