Returning to Erasmus ‘will benefit mid-tier UK universities’

The return of the Erasmus+ programme may prove particularly beneficial for mid-tier universities which lost significant numbers of students from the European Union post-Brexit, according to experts.

The Westminster government announced this week that it will rejoin the short-term student exchange scheme in 2027-28 with UK students able to study in the EU without paying extra fees, and vice versa. The UK left the scheme in 2020 after Brexit, and EU students have paid full international tuition fees since 2021-22.

Analysis of data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa) shows that the number of EU students in UK institutions has halved since then – falling from 152,930 in 2020-21 to 74,490 in 2023-24.

Among large institutions, only a handful have increased EU student numbers, with others seeing large declines – particularly University College Birmingham (86 per cent down) and Coventry University (85 per cent down).

Others to have suffered the biggest declines include University of Wales Trinity Saint David (82 per cent), University of Bedfordshire (79 per cent) and Southampton Solent University (78 per cent).

Diana Beech, director of the Finsbury Institute, a public policy research unit at City St George’s, University of London, told Times Higher Education that the sharp fall in EU student numbers has hit “mid-tier, teaching-focused universities hardest”.

“For these institutions, the return of Erasmus is likely to be particularly significant as it offers a way to rebuild EU student inflows and restore campus diversity. Elite universities, by contrast, already have strong global appeal, so the marginal benefit of Erasmus will be much smaller for this part of the sector.”

The scheme could bring benefits across the board by guaranteeing year abroad opportunities to home students on modern languages courses and offering a lifeline to departments at risk of closure, she added.

But Beech said the long-term impact of rejoining the scheme is uncertain because placements could either encourage EU students to return to the UK for postgraduate study, or may satisfy that demand entirely and reduce interest in profitable master’s courses.

“While the return of Erasmus will undoubtedly help UK universities to rebuild connections and campus communities, it may also reshape demand in ways that challenge current financial models.”

Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said he was pretty certain that the UK’s re-entry to Erasmus will “make little difference to universities’ bottom lines”. 

“The Erasmus money will subsidise the teaching and living costs of Erasmus participants but may not cover all the costs in full.”

And he added: “If you can come here cheaply as part of your degree in your own home country as part of Erasmus, why would you opt to come here expensively for, say, a taught master’s and pay full international fees later on?”

Hesa data shows that just 28,375 new entrants from the EU came to UK institutions in 2023-24. But official Erasmus figures show that over 16,000 EU students joined UK institutions through Erasmus in 2019-20. About 9,900 UK students went the other way – with the universities of Glasgow, Bristol and Edinburgh the largest providers.

“Aside from losing out on the direct benefits to participants, UK absence from Erasmus compounded the damage to universities from Brexit,” said Simon Sweeney, a professor of international political economy at the University of York.

“Leaving Erasmus sent a signal that the UK didn’t welcome EU students. Numbers coming here from the EU collapsed right across the sector. This meant lost undergraduate income, as well as from postgraduates and research students.”

Sweeney said quitting Erasmus was a blow to the UK’s reputation as a welcoming and high-quality environment, and that rejoining the scheme is “good news for all universities, including the less prestigious ones”.

“Only a handful in recent years could successfully charge extremely high international fees for EU students. The sector as a whole lost out, and will gain from a sustained effort to rebuild our reputation as a welcoming environment for EU students.”

Separate Hesa figures for Scotland and Wales show that some elite universities were able to make more money from EU tuition fees in 2023-24 than they were in 2020-21 by charging more.

Despite a similar number of EU students, the University of St Andrews increased its income from this cohort from £5.6 million to £14.4 million over this period. But income fell from £3.1 million to just £259,000 at Edinburgh Napier University and from £2.3 million to £423,000 at Glasgow Caledonian University.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com