The UK has announced its returned to the European Union's Erasmus student exchange programme, five years after Brexit forced it to pull out. The move is part of a wider effort to rebuild ties between London and Brussels.
Agreements finalised on Wednesday pave the way for the UK to rejoin Erasmus from 2027, with more than 100,000 people expected to benefit in the first year alone.
The popular study-abroad programme was a casualty of the UK's withdrawal from the EU, with students and universities on both sides lamenting its loss.
While the UK had the option to remain in the scheme, then prime minister Boris Johnson turned it down on cost grounds, calling Erasmus "extremely expensive".
Under this week's deal, the current government – led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer – has agreed to contribute £570 million (roughly €650 million) as of next year, which ministers say represents a 30 percent discount on the standard rate.
It's a detail aimed at reassuring voters who remain convinced by the arguments advanced by Johnson and other Brexit supporters that leaving the EU would save British taxpayers millions of pounds a week.
EU-UK reset
Since his Labour Party replaced Johnson's Conservatives in 2024, Starmer has pursued what he calls a “reset” with the EU, rebuilding bridges while ruling out rejoining the bloc or the customs union.
Brexit did “deep damage” to the UK economy, he said earlier this month – arguing that the potential gains from renewed collaboration on trade, security and energy were too large to overlook.
By 2025, UK GDP was between 6 to 8 percent smaller than it would have been without Brexit, according to economists at the US-based National Bureau of Economic Research, who said the impact on investment, employment and productivity had accumulated over time.
In recent days, amid the crisis in the Middle East, Starmer has also made the argument on security grounds.
"We're in a world where there's massive conflict, great uncertainty, and I strongly believe the UK's best interests are in a stronger, closer relationship with Europe," he told the BBC this week.
On Friday, Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron co-hosted a meeting of European leaders, allies and "non-belligerent partners" on restoring freedom of passage in the Strait of Hormuz.
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Voter regret
A UK-EU summit in 2025 produced a “new strategic partnership” covering defence, security and trade. It was also announced that the UK was negotiating deals with the EU on food and drink standards, carbon emissions and electricity.
Since then, Starmer's government has floated proposals to "dynamically" update UK rules to match future EU ones, without giving MPs in London a vote each time. The move was sharply criticised by its opponents on the right, but the government says it is needed to secure deals making it easier for British businesses to export to the EU.
The prime minister now appears more willing than he has been to make the case for closer ties with the bloc.
Polling suggests most voters now believe leaving the EU was a mistake. A January 2025 YouGov survey put the percentage of people in the UK who saw Brexit as a success at 11 percent, with 55 percent saying the country was wrong to leave the EU. Just 30 percent stood by the outcome of the 2016 Brexit vote, the lowest level since the referendum.
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Among 18- to 24-year-olds, the percentage who disagreed with leaving the EU rose to 75 percent.
Too young to vote in 2016, they are now the age group that stands to benefit from the UK's return to Erasmus, which allows young people to study across the continent.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen welcomed this week's agreement, noting that the UK and mainland Europe have shared “mutually beneficial educational ties for centuries” – ties that now look set to deepen again.
