By Redaction Reporter
A PRO-EUROPE British political party has started a petition to save the rights of UK students to study in Europe through the Erasmus Scheme.
The Rejoin EU Party, which campaigns for Britain to re-enter the European Union, is urging the UK government to retain the country’s involvement in the European student exchange scheme.
Named after Dutch philosopher Desiderius Erasmus, the scheme has allowed millions of European students to participate in exchanges across the continent since its inception in 1987.
Rejoin EU party leader Richard Hewison said: “Erasmus has nothing to do with membership of the EU.
“Indeed, the UK government guaranteed our continued membership of the scheme in early 2020, only to do a complete U-turn at the end of the year.
“Even if the 2016 vote had been about Erasmus, nobody currently under the age of 24 was given any say in the matter and these are the people who have had their rights to a full education taken away.”
Several non-EU member countries are associated with the Erasmus+ programme, including Norway, Iceland and Serbia.
Along with its departure from the European Union, the UK government announced its intention to set up a replacement programme called the Turing Scheme, named after mathematician Alan Turing.
Rejoin EU party chairman Andrew Smith said: “Anecdotal evidence from participants show this is almost always a life-changing experience, giving people a broader perspective on the world and leading to them interacting with groups they would often not come into contact with otherwise.
“It would be a tragedy and frankly a scandal if future generations were denied that opportunity.”
Find the petition here.
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