When the UK confirmed it would rejoin Erasmus+ from 2027, the reaction across universities was immediate and warm. Statements rolled out within hours. This was about reconnection, about repairing something quietly lost after Brexit, about students getting their horizons back. In higher education, it felt like a rare piece of good news.
For many institutions, Erasmus never stopped being part of the furniture. Even after withdrawal, partnerships lingered, waiting. The programme had meant predictable exchanges, familiar paperwork, and relationships built over decades. Its absence wasn’t just practical. It carried a sense of drift, especially in Europe, where student mobility is still seen as a marker of seriousness and trust.
So the return matters. It restores a shared language of cooperation. It also lands at a moment when studying abroad is again being talked about as something normal, not an indulgence or a disruption. For students who came of age during lockdowns, the idea of spending part of a degree elsewhere feels newly urgent.
But once the initial relief fades, the questions creep in.
The UK never really sent that many students out through Erasmus in the first place. Before Brexit, far more European students came to the UK than British students went the other way. That imbalance wasn’t accidental. UK degrees are often tightly packed. Many students juggle work, caring responsibilities, or financial pressure. Taking a semester abroad can feel risky, even if the funding is there.
Language plays its part too. Studying in English at home is easy. Studying in another language abroad is a leap. Erasmus helped, but it never fully shifted those habits.
That history matters now, because the government is committing serious money. Around £570 million for the first year back. Ministers talk about discounts negotiated and long-term gains, but on the ground universities are dealing with cuts, restructures, and real fear. Some are shrinking quietly. Others are asking for emergency help just to stay open.
It creates an uncomfortable contrast. On one hand, a generous international programme. On the other, institutions struggling to keep courses running, staff employed, and campuses open in places that rely on them.
This is where comparisons start to surface, especially with the Turing Scheme. Turing was messy and rushed, but it did send UK students abroad, often beyond Europe. It reached schools and colleges that never touched Erasmus. It wasn’t loved, but it did something different.
Erasmus does something different too. It builds long relationships. It supports staff exchanges and cooperation that students never see directly. Those things matter, especially if the UK wants to stay connected academically.
Still, it’s fair to ask who benefits first. Well-resourced universities with international offices will move quickly. They always do. Smaller, more fragile institutions may struggle to keep up, even if their students would gain the most from going abroad.
For students watching all this, the feeling is mixed. Opportunity is exciting. Stability is reassuring. But many are also worried about debt, about jobs, about whether their university will look the same by the time they graduate.
Erasmus returning is not a mistake. It’s also not a solution to everything that feels shaky in UK higher education right now. It’s a choice. And like all choices made in tight times, it deserves more than applause. It deserves attention to who actually gets to step on the plane, and who stays behind holding the institution together.
