From the 2023/2024 academic year, University of Edinburgh students undertaking a non-compulsory year abroad exchange will no longer receive financial support from the university.
In May of 2023, the University of Edinburgh will no longer be eligible for Erasmus funding following Brexit.
The university will continue to participate in the Turing Scheme.
According to the university’s website, the Turing Scheme will “prioritise funding for students meeting the Scheme’s widening access criteria and those following degree programmes which contain mandatory periods of overseas work and study placements.”
For students planning on going abroad in the 2023/2024 academic year, disparities in funding have risen dramatically between mandatory and non-mandatory year-abroad exchanges.
The Student spoke with August Enger, a 2nd year English Literature and History student who planned on doing a year abroad in Italy, about their experience.
Enger said, “If I had known a year abroad would not be feasible for me, I might have looked into other options”.
While Edinburgh has prided itself on having an optional year abroad built into the 4-year undergraduate degree, changes in funding have raised significant concern from students.
Degrees that do not have a mandatory year abroad component will no longer receive funding for accommodation or living expenses.
The lack of clarity has led to some students, such as Enger, having to alter their university plans rapidly and unexpectedly.
The University of Edinburgh website encourages students planning non-mandatory exchanges to “carefully consider how they will meet costs involved”.
This contrasts with the marketing done to make students aware of exchange opportunities on the University website, degree prospectuses, and in a variety of courses.
The lack of support places students on non-language degrees in jeopardy of going without funding for their exchanges.
In addition to the elimination of funding from Edinburgh for non-mandatory year-abroad exchanges, students have encountered difficulties from host universities.
Several incidents of students cancelling their year abroad after being unable to find housing have been reported.
Enger continued to discuss students who were not allocated housing on an attempted exchange in Amsterdam.
“[Students] had packed their suitcases, arrived, and been told ‘Oh we don’t have space to house you’”.
In addition to the funding elimination from non-mandatory exchanges, there are issues with host universities lacking responsibility for year-abroad housing.
Questions remain on how permanent these changes in funding and housing are to the year abroad due to the lack of communication from the University of Edinburgh.
Enger continued, “I hope that in the future students going into this will be slightly less starry-eyed than when I started”.
The current state of confusion may hinder the accessibility of the year-abroad program for future students applying to the University.
Image: “taking his luggage for a walk” by byronv2 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
