Britain will rejoin the European Union’s Erasmus+ student exchange programme in January, reopening opportunities for young people to study, train and gain work experience across Europe in one of the most tangible reversals of the country’s post-Brexit isolation.
Hamish Falconer, a Foreign Office minister, told MPs that applications would open in November for the scheme, which will extend beyond university students to include apprentices, school groups, adult learners and education professionals.
The move marks a significant step in the government’s effort to rebuild relations with Brussels following the UK’s departure from the EU. Reassociation with Erasmus+ was announced as part of the post-Brexit reset agreed under Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in 2025.
The UK left the programme under Boris Johnson’s Brexit settlement in 2020, with the then prime minister arguing that participation did not represent value for money. The government subsequently introduced the Turing Scheme to fund international education placements, but that programme is now being replaced as Britain prepares to return to Erasmus+.
The government has previously estimated that more than 100,000 people could benefit from the renewed arrangement, highlighting the potential for international exchanges to widen access to education and professional development, particularly among disadvantaged students.
Unlike programmes focused primarily on university exchanges, Erasmus+ encompasses a broader range of educational opportunities. Further education students and apprentices will be able to undertake work placements with European employers, while schools, adult learning organisations and sports bodies will also be eligible to participate.
Education staff will have opportunities for overseas training and job shadowing, potentially giving British institutions greater scope to establish partnerships with counterparts across the continent.
Falconer stressed the breadth of the scheme when responding to Labour MP Rosena Allin-Khan, who argued that young people had been “deprived of opportunity” since Brexit and asked what was being done to strengthen ties with European partners.
“I would like to inform the House that the UK will reassociate with Erasmus plus from January 1 2027,” he said, adding that applications would open the following month.
“They are not simply for undergraduate university students. They are for educational institutions of all kinds.”
He urged MPs across the political spectrum to work with the British Council to encourage institutions to participate, describing the programme as a practical way to help young people through closer relations with Europe.
The return represents more than a change in education policy. It is a recognition that the consequences of Brexit have extended into the everyday opportunities available to students and workers, as well as the broader relationship between Britain and its nearest neighbours.
The challenge now will be to turn the political agreement into meaningful participation, ensuring that opportunities reach beyond established universities and affluent students to those who have had the least access to international experience.
For a generation that came of age after Brexit, Erasmus+ offers the prospect of restoring a route into European education and employment that disappeared seven years ago.
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