Rejoining the EU Erasmus student exchange programme is good news - Yorkshire Post Letters
From: James Bovington, Church Grove, Horsforth, Leeds.
The announcement that the United Kingdom will rejoin the highly successful EU Erasmus student exchange programme in 2027 is a welcome piece of good news and confirms that the Labour government has a serious approach to improving the UK-EU relationship which was callously and deliberately destroyed by the Conservatives.
Surveys suggest that a majority of voters now believe that Brexit was a mistake and that there’s overwhelming support for rejoining a scheme which proved its value in helping less well-off students benefit from life-enhancing opportunities.
There’s some self-interest here too. Many of the mainly young people coming to study here will be future leaders in their individual field of study in their home countries and time spent in the UK will hopefully mean they’re well disposed to working with us to promote reciprocal economic development.
I can understand how those whose horizons don’t stretch beyond their immediate area might feel relieved that Brexit closed life-enhancing social, cultural and linguistic opportunities to young people.
After all these are the people who when they venture beyond the UK will speak increasingly loudly in English to make even the simplest transaction. Leaving Erasmus wasn’t about cost.
It was a deliberate attempt by the Conservatives to isolate young British people from their European counterparts as has been confirmed by their churlish reaction to the UK rejoining.
A recent report ‘Funded by Erasmus’ shows that in the seven years 2014-2020 the greater Leeds area received upwards of £20m to fund 87 projects mainly centred on student and staff exchanges.
West Leeds Valley View primary school is listed as receiving £164,000 towards a strategic partnership with schools in several other European countries and in 2020 Raynville Academy received £60,000 towards an ongoing student exchange programme. There will hopefully be numerous new projects in Leeds.
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus was a key figure in the humanist movement of the Renaissance, which emphasized the importance of education, critical thinking, and individualism.
These are surely the qualities we want in our young people who will benefit from the opportunities offered by the scheme named after this Dutch scholar who spent varying lengths of time teaching in England, France and Italy. A true European.