Rebuilding Opportunity: Why the UK and EU should deepen cooperation on higher education and skills
The UK and the European Union share a deep mutual interest in creating opportunity for young people and anyone seeking continuing education and skills development — whether in universities, vocational training or research and innovation.
Closer cooperation in higher education and skills is about preparing the next generation to thrive in a world shaped by technological change, climate transition and shifting global power. Our paper, Higher Education in the UK: How It Can Benefit from Closer Partnership with the EU, sets out how a more ambitious partnership could revitalise opportunity on both sides of the Channel, strengthen our research base and help the UK and EU meet shared challenges.
Re-joining Erasmus+ and renewing mobility
Few EU programmes have had the reach and success of Erasmus+, which since 1987 has supported over 15 million people to study, train or work abroad. The UK was once a central participant, hosting more than 17,000 European students every year and running 4,700 projects that generated nearly £400 million annually in economic benefit.
Leaving Erasmus+ ended those exchanges — and with them, countless opportunities for British and European students, apprentices and educators. The UK’s replacement, the Turing Scheme, has made important progress in widening global opportunities for UK students, but it lacks reciprocity: it funds only outward mobility, and it excludes the incoming students and apprentices whose presence once enriched UK campuses, workplaces and communities.
Our paper calls on the UK Government to make re-association with Erasmus+ a priority. Re-joining the programme would restore the full circle of opportunity — enabling both UK and EU students, trainees and apprentices to benefit. It would also allow the UK to regain influence in shaping the next phase of Erasmus+, which increasingly supports skills development, adult learning and inclusion alongside university exchanges.
A new UK–EU Youth Mobility Scheme
Alongside Erasmus+, a broader youth mobility agreement is now within reach. The European Commission has proposed an EU-wide Youth Mobility Scheme to allow 18- to 30-year-olds to live, study or work across borders for up to four years, with equal tuition and fair visa conditions.
The UK has already signalled interest in such an agreement — a practical, time-limited way to give young people the freedom to experience life and work on the other side of the Channel. UK Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, recently pushed for an "ambitious" youth migration deal with the EU, arguing that such a scheme would be "good for the economy, good for growth and good for business".
We strongly support this initiative. A youth mobility deal would not only repair some of the damage caused by the loss of free movement; it would rebuild the cultural and professional ties that underpin future cooperation in business, science, technology and public service. It would also create new opportunities for vocational and technical education — areas often overlooked in international mobility programmes, yet vital to economic renewal.
One issue is regularly raised by business leaders – the upper age limit. A scheme with an upper age limit of 35 would bring significantly more benefit to businesses – and hence the economy and growth – than an upper age limit of 30 due to the greater level of skill and experience offered by employees with more years of experience under their belts. The UK and EU ought to create a scheme for 16 or 18 year olds all the way to 35.
Restoring research excellence through deeper collaboration
The UK’s re-association with Horizon Europe and Euratom in 2024 was an important step forward, reopening access to the world’s largest collaborative research and innovation programme. The benefits of this participation — in fields from AI to clean energy and health sciences — will be immense. Yet barriers remain: high visa costs, salary thresholds, and lack of mutual recognition of qualifications continue to constrain researcher exchange.
We recommend practical measures to address these issues:
Streamline visa procedures and introduce special research and student visa categories.
Review professional qualifications under the 2026 UK–EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) review.
Reduce tuition fees or create new scholarships for EU students.
Promote multilingual education and lower income thresholds for international researchers.
Removing these obstacles would make the UK a more attractive partner in European science and education — and enable British institutions to benefit fully from Horizon Europe and its forthcoming successor, Framework Programme 10.
Working together on the challenges of the future
The case for collaboration goes far beyond the education sector. In an era defined by technological competition, climate crisis and geopolitical instability, the UK and EU need each other’s strengths. Cooperation in research and higher education underpins the capacity to meet these challenges — developing clean technologies, advancing artificial intelligence responsibly, strengthening defence innovation, and ensuring that both economies remain competitive and open.
Europe’s next research and education programmes (2028–2034) will be designed during a period of renewed global uncertainty. The UK should be at the table, helping to shape priorities that reflect our shared values and ambitions: openness, excellence, and the belief that knowledge exchange is the surest path to prosperity and peace.
A shared investment in the next generation
Rebuilding cooperation in higher education and training is about more than restoring old programmes. It is a shared investment in people — in the skills, creativity and understanding that future prosperity depends on.
We believe that three steps should now define the UK–EU agenda:
Re-associate with Erasmus+ to restore two-way mobility across universities, colleges and apprenticeships.
Conclude an ambitious UK–EU Youth Mobility Scheme, offering practical and inclusive opportunities to study, work and train across borders.
Remove remaining barriers to research collaboration, so that UK and EU institutions can lead together in science, technology and innovation.
If taken now, these actions would rebuild a partnership that serves students, researchers, and societies across Europe. In doing so, they would show that the UK and EU, by investing in their young people, can also invest in a stronger, more resilient future for both.