Select committee: Scottish Affairs Committee
Conclusion 93
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)
In oral evidence Minister Lochhead also expressed concerns to us about the UK Government’s motivations behind the decision to withdraw from Erasmus+: I am suspicious that the UK Government felt the Erasmus scheme was symbolic of close ties with Europe. Therefore, Brexit is Brexit, and they unfortunately committed this vandalism by removing us from Erasmus to go for the alternative global scheme because it was too European. I was unaware, up until the UK Government walked away from Erasmus, that there were any problems with Erasmus. We were assured that the No. 1 priority, up until the last moment, was full participation in Erasmus. If it was a value for money issue, surely they knew that over the last few years. They must have worked that out, I would have thought, and estimated how much it would have cost us to maintain participation in Erasmus.216
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".