Turing Scheme

(asked on 19th February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Turing Scheme provides more opportunities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds than Erasmus+.


Answered by
Michelle Donelan Portrait
Michelle Donelan
Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology
This question was answered on 25th February 2021

The Turing Scheme will be backed by £110 million, providing funding for around 35,000 students in universities, colleges and schools to go on study and work placements overseas, starting in September 2021. Further details are available on the new Turing Scheme website.

The Turing Scheme is an outward mobility scheme funding UK students to travel abroad. The UK is a world-leading destination for study and research, with four universities in the world’s top 10 and 18 in the top 100. The UK is currently second only to the USA as a destination for international higher education students with approximately 560,000 students from abroad and has been one of the most popular destinations within Erasmus+. It is clear that we have considerable appeal as a destination and partner in international mobilities and exchanges.

Under previous arrangements for student mobility, of which Erasmus+ was a prominent part, UK undergraduates from more advantaged backgrounds have been 1.7 times more likely to participate in mobility schemes compared to disadvantaged students.

Through the Turing Scheme, we will look to target those parts of the country with historically low levels of take-up with a view to boosting social mobility and support disadvantaged students with additional grants for living costs and travel expenses, making life-changing opportunities accessible to everyone across the country.

In order to increase the participation of disadvantaged groups we plan the following measures, which will maintain parity with or exceed the support provided by Erasmus+:

  • When bidding, providers will need to demonstrate how their project will support widening access. The assessment criteria will be heavily weighted towards this criterion.
  • Maintaining parity with Erasmus+ grant rates and existing student finance support but provide additional financial support for those from disadvantaged backgrounds by reimbursing travel-related costs.
  • We will actively target and promote the scheme in those geographical areas of disadvantage to help level up the country.
  • We have reduced the minimum higher education duration of outward mobilities from a minimum of one term to 4 weeks enabling a wider group of students to participate than was the case under current Erasmus+ programme.
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