Lots more to say on #Erasmus and 'replacement' #turingscheme. Students in Northern Ireland may still have access thanks to the Irish government. What about Scotland or Wales? Some considerable barriers here to think about. /1

Erasmus is an EU programme. It is established by a Regulation: a law covering the scope, how the programme works, funding etc over a 7 year period (2014-20). Higher Ed exchanges and Jean Monnet are the best known but also vocational training etc. /2 https://t.co/Gde9VukUor
Participation from non-EU states is possible (Art 24). Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein are in the European Economic Area; Switzerland needs a bilateral agreement. I assume UK would need to be listed similarly to Switzerland in the new Regulation if it wanted to be in. /3
The 'acceding countries, candidate countries and potential candidates' has a specific scope, and does include Kosovo (not yet recognised by all Member States). Turkey in particular has been very active in Erasmus. /4
The European Neighbourhood Policy covers 16 neighbouring states in North Africa, Middle East (including Palestine) and Eastern Europe (except Russia) if a bilateral agreement concluded (yes for some, but not all at the moment). /5 https://t.co/lQnOQItHI7
The new proposed Regulation (from 2021) - also refers to 'other countries' in (Art 16(2) if a bilateral deal can be concluded. So little doubt there is still a route for the UK to participate on basis of a bilateral agreement in the future. /6 https://t.co/f13fvA1M4F
Since a bilateral, legal agreement is required, this reveals several barriers for Scotland or Wales in 'rejoining' Erasmus. The lack of competence of the devolved govts to enter international agreements is thus a major hurdle, as per @AileenMcHarg /7 https://t.co/1qYbjnRxFN
Even if this could be overcome, there would need to be a financial contribution by the Scottish govt (I defer to others on how this might work and whether permitted). There are some other barriers to full participation of Scotland/Wales that spring to mind... /8
Immigration is not devolved, therefore incoming students (a vital part of exchanges) would need to apply for UK student visas. These do exist already for non-EU exchanges (or non-EU citizens coming from EU unis) but cost £348 and involve paperwork. /9 https://t.co/A9N8bOFKzJ
Scottish/Welsh uni students would also face immigration hurdles at their destination (which would vary from place to place). Potentially meaning lower take up of places (?) and administrative hassle, with uncertainty over rights and costs. /10
In short, I am doubtful that Scotland or Wales could rejoin Erasmus unless the UK govt was conclude a bilateral agreement on their behalf. This is unlikely I would have thought as it undermines the new 'UK wide' Turing scheme. /END

More from Brexit

Another head-banging day for the £112bn UK creative sector that is starting to ingest how difficult #Brexit is going to make their lives - and how little the government is really willing to do to fix the lack of a 'mobility' chapter in the EU-UK trade deal. Quick update.../1

First Equity @EquityUK put out a letter to @BorisJohnson warning that #brexit was a "towering hurdle" (you'd want Brian Blessed reading that part) to UK actors plying their trade in EU - a double whammy with #COVID19 /2

https://t.co/mXjTAISqZk


@BorisJohnson One third of Equity members say they've seen job ads asking for EU passport holders: "Before, we were able to travel to Europe visa-free. Now we have to pay hundreds of pounds, fill in form after form, and spend weeks waiting for approval" /3

@BorisJohnson Worth recalling that all this goes back to the UK desire NOT to have a 'mobility' provision within the TCA - all part of 'ending Free Movement' and the professional services folk - including musicians, actors, fashion models etc -are all victim of

@BorisJohnson What's the government going to do about all this? Good question, which brings us to todays @CommonsDCMS hearing in which the Culture Minister Caroline Dinenage @cj_dinenage frankly pin-balled around the issues /5

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