A new agreement signals promising changes for UK ELT, including the exploration of a youth mobility scheme and the potential return of the UK to the Erasmus+ programme.
On May 19, 2025, European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London for the first UK-EU summit since Brexit.
The summit resulted in a “Common Understanding,” aiming to strengthen bilateral cooperation across various sectors. In what is a major development for UK ELT, the UK and the EU are set to explore a new youth mobility scheme. There’s already a similar agreement in place with countries like Australia and Canada, allowing 18 to 30-year-olds to live and work overseas – and vice versa.
The agreement states it will help young people travelling to the EU to work, study, volunteer, or simply travel for a limited period. This would be a dedicated visa path, ensuring the number benefiting is “acceptable to both sides.”
Erasmus+ to make a comeback
Beyond the youth mobility scheme, the ‘Common Understanding’ also outlines an intention for the UK and the European Commission to collaborate on the UK re-joining the European Union’s Erasmus+ programme – another significant development for UK ELT.
The ‘Common Understanding’ states: “The specific terms of this association, including mutually agreed financial terms, should be determined as part of that process in order to ensure a fair balance as regards the contributions of and benefits to the United Kingdom. The association should be in accordance with the European Union Multiannual Financial Framework and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.”.
English UK’s response to the UK-EU deal
English UK – the national association of English language centres in the UK described the UK-EU reset deal as “very promising for UK ELT”, but we will need to continue campaigning – with members’ help – to achieve everything we want.
Chief executive Jodie Gray said: “We welcome the first moves towards a youth mobility deal with the EU but there is further to go.
“English UK has long campaigned for a YMS with the EU. We recognise the enormous benefits for young people across the UK and the EU, inbound tourism and UK exports. We will continue to call for a deal that allows for as many people as possible to participate and that is implemented quickly.
“Launching our new policy position paper less than a week ago, we called on the government to create exchange programmes for young professionals. The suggestion that the UK might again be part of the Erasmus+ programme was more than we had dared hope for. While we are happy to hear this news, it is far from clear what the UK’s association with Erasmus+ will look like. We will push for this to be as broad as possible in the interests of our industry, the economy and our young people.’
English UK in call to members
On Wednesday 14 May, English UK launched its new policy position paper in Parliament. It included six recommendations for the government connected with the EU. One of these was to ‘expand career-enhancing travel opportunities for young people via YMS’, and the other was to ‘create exchange programmes for young professionals’.
English UK urged members to contact their MPs about the position paper recommendations. Following this latest news it suggests concentrating on the proposed youth experience scheme outlined in the EU-UK Summit Common Understanding agreement.
English UK suggests members ask their MPs to write to…
Nick Thomas-Symonds (Minister for the Constitution and European Union Relations), and
Seema Malhotra (Minister for Migration and Citizenship),
…to make the point that the proposed youth experience scheme will be invaluable in allowing young people from the EU to work and study here, and allow similar opportunities for young people in the UK.
This would be popular with the British public, it said, citing a recent YouGov poll for The Times, which showed that over 70% support a youth mobility scheme with the EU, with just 17% opposed.
English UK also requests that members encourage their MP to ask these questions of the Ministers in their letters:
- Can the Minister confirm any timelines for further negotiation and implementation of this scheme, and keep me updated once these are known?
- We would like to see a scheme that allows as many young people as possible to benefit; many other countries have youth mobility schemes without pre-determined numbers. Can the Minister give us an assurance that this will be seriously considered in the upcoming negotiations?
