I was an Erasmus student. Here’s why it really matters to Scotland’s young generation
The removal of rights and opportunities enjoyed by previous generations was one of the most appalling aspects of Brexit
Thirty years ago next year, and I am still astonished at the length of time, I left behind my rather comfortable and enjoyable existence as a law student at the University of Dundee and made my way across the North Sea to the city of Antwerp.
At the time, it seemed like such a big adventure, going to Belgium to study for a year, leaving behind friends, family and familiarity for a wholly new educational and living experience.
For previous generations, this would have been impossible, going to university was already one thing, but spending a year in another European country, as part of that degree was quite another.
A wonderful city
I couldn’t have done this without the Erasmus scheme, a programme that the late great Winnie Ewing helped steer through the European Parliament. My educational journey was made possible by the partnership between the universities, a little bit of extra cash and the mutual recognition of teaching and qualifications.
I also lucked out in other ways. Antwerp is a wonderful city, a guidebook of the time rightly described it as a ‘gem’ and one of Europe’s most under-rated cities. It is rich in history, diversity, culture and yes, bars.
Incidentally, it is also the city where one of my parliamentary predecessors, the former Dundee MP, Ed Morel, spent time as a young clerk and noticed the shipments to-ing and fro-ing from the quays of Antwerp to the Belgian Congo, leading him, alongside the Irish diplomat and pro-independence campaigner Roger Casement, to establish one of the first modern human rights campaigns, against the Belgian rubber trade.
The city of Rubens also hosts an excellent university that attracts young Belgian people, fine international academics and an array of Erasmus students drawn from across Europe. I was also deeply fortunate to be joined on the adventure by my pal Dug, with the two of us becoming the first pioneers to make it to Antwerp University from Dundee University.
His patience, forbearance and good nature was a key part of helping me make the most of the experience. The friends we both made from across Europe, helped us better understand other societies and enrich our learning experience – and all the while the exchange students in Dundee were doing the same back home. These were friends who have remained so for life.
Students of modest means
My Erasmus year was invaluable, transformative in my personal and professional development. As well as deepening my education, it also gave me the experience and insights that allowed me to pursue my subsequent careers in the international NGO sector as well as working inside the European institutions. That would previously have been impossible for students, like me, of more modest means.
So, this week’s announcement by the UK Government that it has at long last re-joined the scheme for UK students was a welcome one. That’s the thing about Erasmus Plus, it opens up the rest of Europe and is available to students, apprentices and those in vocational training as well as educators among others. It provides a forum to ensure that the many have the same opportunities that were previously enjoyed by the few.
The removal of rights and opportunities enjoyed by previous generations was one of the most appalling aspects of Brexit. We as politicians should leave behind more opportunities for future generations than we ourselves enjoyed. It was the reverse with Boris Johnson’s hard Brexit, with politicians like him pulling the ladder up and taking away life chances for those who can’t afford them.
However, for all the fanfare, as usual with the Labour government, we have made some progress but only undone the damage so much. My Erasmus experience and investment in my own education was furthered by the freedom of movement that I enjoyed as a European citizen. The ability that I previously had to live and work anywhere in Europe, making it easier for employers to give me a job and provide skills and expertise that I would never have had otherwise.
Brexit an expensive mistake
Unlocking the Erasmus opportunity for students, teachers and apprentices and other successful applicants is undoubtedly a good thing. However, why are we only giving some young people the opportunity and depriving the rest the opportunity that freedom of movement provided, as well as minimising the chance for Erasmians (yes, it’s a word) to make the most of the new skills they will acquire?
In the aftermath of Brexit, there was a scramble for European passports as UK citizens desperately dug up information on long lost Polish, Spanish and Irish relatives. That was because people understood what they were losing. Brexit is an expensive mistake that is now estimated to be costing the UK taxpayer £250 million every single day.
However, it is even more costly in removing rights and opportunities from our young people, rights enjoyed by other young western Europeans. UK citizenship is now restrictive compared to the benefits enjoyed by the holders of other European passports.
Thirty years on from turning up in Antwerp, nervous, but excited, I didn’t expect that experience would have been as transformative as it was. I remember parents and grandparents being excited for the opportunities I had that they never did.
That is progress. What is not progress is that the opportunities I had are not available to my children or the children and grandchildren of my constituents. That is the opposite of progress.
Stephen Gethins is the MP for Arbroath and Broughty Ferry
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