EAIE conference: UK and Switzerland's takeaways on being cut from Erasmus+ and EU programmes

"The main difference between the UK and Switzerland is that the Swiss government and population wanted to remain in Erasmus+, while the UK voted for Brexit knowing it would mean being out of Horizon Europe and Erasmus+", explains Leslie Hansen, Programme Coordinator at Movetia, the Swiss National Agency for Exchange and Mobility, on 18/09/2024, at the EAIE annual meeting taking place in Toulouse (France) from 17 to 20/09/2024.

"We are relieved that the UK associated (with Horizon Europe) after many years of uncertainty. Now we can reconnect and reset the British higher education system. We want to send positive messages to our European partners", says Celia Patridge, from UUK, on 19/09/2024, attending the same event.

The two countries are in a similar situation: the UK left European programmes in January 2020 after Brexit was put in place, and Switzerland is an associated country to the EU and was expelled from the Erasmus+ programme in 2014 after a referendum.

Today, Switzerland is on the path of joining the UK as an associated country to Horizon Europe. Still, the two differ on…