Title: Responses to letter from academics on Erasmus+ and Brexit
26th of March 2021
Unilab Svoltastudenti and Confederazione degli Studenti received a reply to the letter sent to European and Italian politicians asking for attention to the Erasmus+ Programme in the context of Brexit.
A few weeks after the letter was sent, we have received replies from all the recipients except the Hon. Minister Di Maio. Below are the complete letters. Here are our requests and the answers we received:
European Identity and Culture
📢 The Erasmus+ programme has been overtaken by the launch of the Turing Scheme. So we now recognise the risk of losing important pieces of our identity and culture, which were considered solid until just a few days ago, and in this case the possibility of choosing the UK as a possible destination.
🇪🇺 In response, it was explained how this choice was made by London. Participation in the joint programme had been offered. The European Commission regrets this decision, which will deprive many Europeans of this possibility of exchange. It remains available and ready to negotiate future new entries into the common exchange programme.
Concrete commitment on Erasmus+ and Brexit
📢 We call on politicians to make a commitment to the cause, before it is too late. In fact, the aim is to give hope to the more than three thousand Italian students and the approximately thirty thousand European students to maintain strong cultural and educational exchange relations with the United Kingdom.
🇪🇺 At the moment, all ongoing projects, funded by 2020, will be supported until completion. Furthermore, the cooperation that existed with the Erasmus+ project will not be achieved in the 2021-2027 programme. The UK will possibly participate as a non-associated third country. However, there will be a few international opportunities open to the whole world (Jean Monnet and Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees). Exchange of higher education students and Vocational Education will also be available.
London continues to be a destination
📢 To maintain cultural and educational exchange relations with the UK, so that the possibility of a period of study in the UK can continue to enrich the cultural background of Italian students.
🇪🇺 In its resolution of 18 June 2020, the European Parliament highlighted the importance of the UK in the Erasmus+ programme. This is in line with the principles of third country participation in EU programmes. The UK’s decision was to opt out. It will penalise European and UK students. We hope that the UK will consider becoming part of the programme again in the future.
The letter we sent on Erasmus+ and Brexit:
http://bit.ly/LetteraUnilabConfedErasmus
The complete answers:
We also brought the issue to the National Council of University Students with a motion.
Unilab Svoltastudenti
Carlo Giovani – Matteo GiugovazAbout Us and Contact – Erasmus+ and Brexit
Who we are: Unilab Svoltastudenti – The Italian Students’ Union and Confederazione degli Studenti are associations and representative bodies. They are non-partisan and non-denominational. Active respectively since 2013 and 1995 throughout the country. They work in ministerial bodies and, with their members, in the academic bodies of many universities in Italy. Four pillars are essential in their representative activities for the development and growth of the Italian university. Those are merit and quality of education, access to the world of work during the university course, internationalisation and guaranteed accessibility to the highest level of education thanks to the Right to Education.
Contact details: Unilab Svoltastudenti – La Students’ Union Italiana https://www.unilabsvoltastudenti.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unilab.svoltastudenti/; Email: info@unilabsvoltastudenti.com
Confederazione degli Studenti https://www.facebook.com/confederazione.deglistudenti; Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/confederazionedeglistudenti_it/; Email: info@confederazionedeglistudenti.it
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