Quitting the EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme would “blow a hole” in the UK’s economy, taking away income of £243m a year and depriving 17,000 British young people of valuable work experience, according to a group of education and business leaders.

The group, including further education colleges and universities, is calling for the British government to make clear that continued Erasmus membership is a high priority in its talks with the EU.

Britain’s membership of the EU-wide exchange scheme known as Erasmus+ is to expire at the end of this year, alongside membership of the EU. The government’s negotiating outline offered scant hope of continued full membership, saying only that it “will consider options for participation in elements of Erasmus+ on a time-limited basis, provided the terms are in the UK’s interests”.

Universities UK International (UUKI), the umbrella group representing higher education providers, said membership of Erasmus gave a bonus to the British economy worth £243m a year, after subtracting membership costs from the £420m generated by EU students visiting the UK under the programme.

It also said the 17,000 British students and young people who use Erasmus for work placements and study would also lose out, particularly students from disadvantaged backgrounds who would struggle to fund their travel and expenses without it.

Joe Fitzsimons, the head of education and skills policy at the Institute of Directors, said: “Many employers deeply value the kind of international experience the Erasmus scheme helps foster. Given the benefits it can bring students and businesses, maintaining access to Erasmus and wider EU research and education partnerships has been a priority for the IoD from the off.”

Emma Meredith, international director at the Association of Colleges (AoC), representing further education, said its data showed 85% of colleges were using Erasmus+ to find work placements that were not available with local employers, particularly for students in vocational subjects such as construction and social care.

“For college students in some of the most deprived parts of the country, Erasmus+ helps to level up opportunity, experience and aspiration as well as ensuring that we are viewed as an open, tolerant and welcoming country to the rest of the world,” she said.

An AoC survey found more than 90% of colleges would be unable to fund work placements for further education students if Erasmus is not extended or replaced.

The director of UUKI, Vivienne Stern, said: “We know that disadvantaged and disabled students have the most to gain from an international experience. They will be the students who will lose the most if Erasmus+ falls by the wayside.

“Yet I am worried that government isn’t committed to keeping the UK in Erasmus. Now is the time to commit to this unique programme that boosts not only students’ prospects, but those of businesses and the economy.”

The Department for Education has previously said the government “is committed to continuing the academic relationship between the UK and the EU, including through the next Erasmus+ programme if it is in our interests to do so”.

UK 'committed' to maintaining Erasmus+ exchange scheme Read more

The UK’s post-Brexit membership of Erasmus is likely to hinge on the EU’s stance on the cost of continuing membership, and whether the EU ties it to another top priority: continued access for UK universities to the EU’s Horizon 2020 research programme, which is worth billions of euros.

Losing access to either the Horizon or Erasmus programmes would be a further blow for universities struggling with student recruitment difficulties, including potentially huge losses in international tuition fees caused by the coronavirus disruption.

A new report by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) also suggests that the UK government will struggle to meet its targets for national research spending if universities suffer cuts to domestic or international fee income.

“If the UK university sector is to continue thriving, then it is crucial that the chancellor recognises the interdependencies between teaching and research in the budget and subsequent spending review,” said Nick Hillman, the HEPI’s director and the author of the report.

“Universities roughly break even on teaching home students but make a big loss on research. They fill in part of that gap from the surplus on teaching international students. But they now face a looming large loss on teaching home students, for example because of tweaks to tuition fees in England. If that happens, they will have to use international student fees to subsidise home students and there will be less money for covering gaps in research funding.”