Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Conclusion 92
First Report - Universities and Scotland
Published 28 May 2021
Addressed to Scotland Office
Scottish Affairs Committee Universities and Scotland All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
On 28 December 2020 Richard Lochhead MSP, Scottish Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science, expressed his “profound disappointment” at the UK Government’s decision to withdraw from the Erasmus.213 He described the move as “a huge blow”, said that the Scottish Government would explore “alternative options” and described the Turing Scheme as a “watered down and less well funded version of 207 Royal Society of Edinburgh Fellows (USC0013) p 3 208 The Erasmus Programme, Briefing Paper 8326, House of Commons Library, 6 January 2021 209 “Why has the UK ditched participation in Erasmus+?”, University World News, 1 January 2021 210 Q142 211 “Academics call for Scotland to rejoin Erasmus amid criticism of UK’s ‘not fit for purpose’ alternative”, The London Economic, 23 March 2021 212 “Academics call for Scotland to rejoin Erasmus amid criticism of UK’s ‘not fit for purpose’ alternative”, The London Economic, 23 March 2021 213 “Erasmus loss ‘a huge blow’”, Scottish Government, 28 December 2020 38 Universities and Scotland Erasmus” as “it’s not even an exchange program because there is no support for visits to Scotland”.214 He reflected that students in Northern Ireland will however still to be given access to Erasmus+, due to their different EU exit arrangements.215
From: Scottish Affairs Committee, First Report - Universities and Scotland (HC 54), 28 May 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 27 April 2022 (deadline 28 July 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response sets out continued work with the devolved administrations and existing UK-wide policies on international students, immigration, research funding and talent, and states it will submit a response to the earlier Immigration and Scotland report "shortly".
- On the Turing Scheme, it confirmed funding for three years, including "£110 million for the 2022/23 Academic Year". It states the scheme "prioritises pupils, students and learners over staff and inward mobility funding", and says the first year's impact will be evaluated.
- On Erasmus+, it states that President Von Der Leyen "has previously confirmed that association by part of a country is not legally possible".
- On UKRI, it states that Board appointees "are not recruited to represent any constituency, sector or regional grouping", while a legal requirement to have regard to research conditions in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is taken into account. It says Research England's place on the Executive Committee reflects its status as a legal component of UKRI.
- On visa costs, it states that "UK visa fees are broadly in line with our competitors" and that it will "continue to keep visa fees under review".