Higher Education Leaders across the UK and the continent have signed a joint statement, calling for UK Universities to be allowed to continue contributing to European Research Schemes.
These include calls for a post-Brexit UK joining such schemes as the Erasmus Student exchange scheme, possibly as an associate member, if the UK agrees to pay the appropriate fee. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said it is ‘open to collaborating’ as long as the programmes will extensively benefit the UK.
University representatives have expressed their wishes for an agreement to be made by the end of the year, before the culmination of the 11 month transition period following Britain’s exit from the European Union. It is believed that the UK has received about £5 billion pounds from the EU in the most recent research rounds, a gross figure.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has rejected claims that Universities will suffer, stating that there was, ‘no threat to the Erasmus scheme […] students will continue to be able to enjoy the benefits with our European friends and partners’.
