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A quick thread on why I’m not at all surprised that the UK will be leaving the Erasmus scheme and why the arguments made in support of the decision are so worrying 1/
If you’re not sure what the Erasmus scheme is, here’s your primer. 2/ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-47293927
When you view the UK’s relationship with the EU in transactional terms, leaving the Erasmus scheme makes sense. Significantly more students from mainland Europe come to the UK to study than tend to travel in the opposite direction. That ensures the UK loses out financially 3/
Not massively (the sums won’t bankrupt anyone),but it’s definitely a clear financial minus.The reasons for this are obvious; English is a world language (that non-native speakers see as a useful acquisition) & there’s much about ‘Brand UK’ that’s attractive to those looking in 4/
But those who bask in Britain’s apparent wonderfulness – and there are plenty of them in power in London at the moment – will never really understand that the country as a whole still benefits from coaxing & cajoling UK students to learn just a little more about our neighbours 5/
It’s in our national interest to encourage not just language learning (at which we are somewhere between dismal and dreadful) but also cultural understanding. 6/
Plus, by going abroad and studying you inevitably learn more about yourself and your own country. To use the German word, it’s all about ‘Bildung’ 7/
Putting that another way, I have no idea why the Germans all find ‘Dinner for One’ hysterical (you weirdos!), nor do I understand why Germans are so damn obsessed with the ‘Spargelzeit’ (asparagus season). And, don’t *ever* moan at me about your trains, ok! 8/
I can’t quantify the value of any of that. And I am glad I don’t have to. But my time as an Erasmus student made me think much more about what I understood to be ‘normal’. 9/
It made me think. It broadened my horizons. As a lad from deepest Shropshire, those horizons certainly needed broadening, too 10/
If you buy into some sort of British exceptionalism, if you think Britain will ‘win’ as Britain always ‘wins’ then I can see why this is nothing more than background noise. 11/
If trying to make sense of the ‘Feuerzangenbowle’, the ski jumping season and the fact that German roads seem to have way more ‘Falschfahrer’ than we do here in the UK is what oddballs like me do, then you’re never going to stand up and defend the Erasmus scheme 12/
If trying to make folks just a little more rounded, a little more self-aware, a little more open-minded is seen as a virtue worth supporting, then you should mourn the UK’s departure from the Erasmus scheme. I certainly do 13/
Will the new ‘Turing Scheme’ that’s coming in to replace it offer the same opportunities? A HoL report warns that that will be very difficult to do. Reluctantly, I think that they are right. I hope, however, that I am well and truly wrong 14/end
