Is this the end of the year abroad?
A year abroad is a challenging but undeniably rewarding chance to spend up to 12 months studying or working in a foreign language, as well as an opportunity to experience total cultural immersion. Students are faced with new challenges such as finding their own accommodation, setting up a foreign bank account and building a new social group. This formative experience is incredible for personal development and according to research by Universities UK, students who have undertaken a year abroad are 19% more likely to get a first and 20% less likely to be unemployed than their peers who have not spent time away. Now with the UK out of the EU and threats to funding, schemes and cooperation with European universities and businesses – are we set to see the end of year abroad?
As the UK officially left the EU on 31st January 2020, my German flatmate explained how sad she felt about the result of Brexit and made a joke, with a melancholy smile, that I would now promptly be ‘removed’ from our shared WG (Wohngemeinschaft). My opportunity to live with this local Berlinerin was only made possible thanks to the schemes and programmes available to me as I planned my time abroad. I am currently employed by the British Council and my living costs are largely covered by my Erasmus grant. Considering it was hard enough to find a flat in Germany’s capital, the thought of being effectively homeless for the first 2 months without this financial support makes my year abroad experience almost impossible. With over half of all UK university students who go abroad benefitting from the Erasmus scheme, those feeling the effects of cutting ties are likely to be students who need the funding and support of the programme the most. For young people, unable to afford the costs of living in a new country for a year, the Erasmus grant is indispensable. Without the programme, this opportunity for massive personal growth and increased employability prospects is taken away from students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Working abroad often means earning a meagre wage as European companies expect that students are supported financially by Erasmus. Remuneration instead generally takes the form of cultural immersion, the chance to hone language competency and an opportunity to build confidence and connections abroad as opposed to a lucrative employment option. It is unlikely to expect that these companies and organisations will raise wages for UK students to offset the lack of Erasmus support, and instead, these roles may simply be offered to other EU students from countries that are still committed to the programme.
If fewer UK students travel abroad, it will not just be a loss to employability and therefore the UK economy but also a worrying indication of a changing mind-set as people are becoming increasingly closed off to other cultures and nations. According to the British Council, 62% of Britons are monolinguists, making the UK the worst language learners in Europe. UK universities, however, are at the top of many research fields and development projects thanks to connections with European. Despite this, in the past year, we have seen 7 universities cease to offer Modern Languages degrees and 50 institutions cut or close languages departments since 2000, according to the University Council of Modern Languages (UCML). The loss of Erasmus would see an even greater drop in the number of young people choosing to study languages as the year abroad is an integral element of the education. Many European institutions are now dissuading their students from applying to study or work in the UK due to the risk of footing the bill if the Erasmus programme falls through. This will lead to fewer cultural connections and opportunities for shared research and development.
The Erasmus programme is run in seven-year cycles with the next one starting in January 2021. The European Commission has proposed doubling the funding for the programme to €30billion (£22billion) and suggested that it will become easier for non-EU countries to participate in the next cycle after the success of non-EU ‘programme members’ such as Turkey, Norway and Sweden. Jane Racz, the director of the Erasmus programme, explained that the scheme has ‘delivered and continues to deliver significant benefits to the UK and we need to ensure the positives of the programme are not lost as we move into the next stage’. To avoid missing out on these benefits, it is paramount that the UK government make a rapid decision as to whether they are going to commit to the scheme to avoid a period of the new cycle where UK students might miss out on the opportunity for a funded time abroad. Prime Minister Boris Johnson assured the House of Commons, at the beginning of this year, that Erasmus is under ‘no threat’ in response to SNP MP Douglas Champman. Champman claimed the Conservative politicians ‘voted to make our young people more insular, narrow and parochial’ after voting down a Liberal Democrat-backed amendment to the EU withdrawal bill concerning negotiations on Erasmus and the EU’s Horizon research programme. His comments are understandable as the scheme has not been very high up on the UK government’s agenda and was instead put forward as a bargaining tool in negotiations with the EU before a final Brexit deal.
The stress felt by languages students, academics and researchers, since the Brexit vote back in 2015, has not quelled and is now instead fuelled by the nonchalant attitude of discussion in parliament. I struggle to imagine the apprehension felt by current second-years planning their year abroad not knowing what new plethora of challenges they are set to face if they want to seize this golden opportunity of living, studying and working abroad. It is exactly this doubt that is poisoning the attitude towards study abroad, leading to younger students opting away from studying languages. Despite all of the benefits of the programme in creating well-rounded and capable new employees with invaluable skills to support the UK economy; the potential loss of studying abroad is part of a bigger problem as the UK strives to avoid an ‘island mentality’ and fights to maintain international connections.
