The Turing Scheme, its many shortcomings, and a student loan scandal
How does the UK's Erasmus replacement stack up three years since it's introduction?
Welcome back!
Hello and welcome back to The Student Eye, the weekly publication for university students and those interested in higher education across the UK.
This week we’re tackling The Turing Scheme, introduced by the UK government after Brexit to replace the well-known Erasmus scheme that facilitated study-abroad programmes for students across the EU since its introduction in 1983.
We also give you the rundown on the student loan scandal at franchise universities across the country, as reported by The Times this week, and ask what it might mean for the future of those providers.
The Turing Scheme - Nothing more than a pale imitation
By Oliver Hall
Like much in the lead-up to the Brexit referendum of 2016, no one nailed down what might happen to Britain’s membership of the Erasmus scheme. Like other aspects of the negotiation after the country voted to leave, we were told that its replacement would be a key part of a future ‘global Britain’. We all know how that turned out but, with some degree of willingness, this is an aspect of Brexit that can, and must, be salvaged.
Some context
For students, one of the most problematic outcomes of the 2016 referendum has been the end of the freedom of movement and the Erasmus+ scheme, enjoyed by Britons since 1983 and expanded even further in 2014. The Turing Scheme, the replacement that the government hailed as an improvement thanks to the global opportunities that it offers, has proved complex, insufficient, and chaotic for universities and students alike.
The differences between the two are vast. As of 2014, the EU scheme encapsulated all education, training, youth, and sports programmes and covered both tuition fees and some living costs on a reciprocal basis. The result was university courses across the country that offer a ‘year abroad’, generally in the third year of a four-year course, in which the student is expected to spend a set amount of time abroad either working or studying.
The problems
Despite the promise of ‘global opportunities’, something that Erasmus admittedly didn’t offer, the Turing Scheme replacement has been fraught with issues. Most obviously, the fact that it doesn’t cover tuition fees has completely changed the landscape. Host universities are expected to simply waive these costs but the vast majority don’t and individual providers are left to establish their own reciprocal arrangements with partner institutions.
This puts smaller and less well-established universities at a huge disadvantage and even the largest are still only able to offer a fraction of the opportunities they did in the past. The paperwork and processes of setting up these agreements simply takes too much time. Even the University of Oxford, perhaps the most well-established of all higher education institutions in the country, only offered eleven funded places for Spanish students in the academic year 2023/24.
The government initially pointed to the Turing Scheme’s support of disadvantaged students as one of its primary advantages and indeed, it offers top-ups to the stipend that others receive on a needs and destination-assessed basis. Depending on whether your country is categorised as high or medium cost, students from disadvantaged backgrounds can receive as much as £490 a month if their stay lasts more than eight weeks. In reality though, that funding is allocated to fewer institutions on a much less reliable basis.
“Universities discover the total funding that they will receive in July at the earliest and often not until August, leaving students in the lurch, unsure as to whether they will even be able to complete their travels and studies.”
The Erasmus+ scheme reviews its funding every six or seven years, meaning that universities are able to plan ahead and advertise accurately to prospective applicants. In stark contrast, the Turing Scheme reviews its funding each and every year with its first two years showing huge variation (the University of Warwick saw funding fall by 30% in 2023). Even worse, universities discover the total funding that they will receive in July at the earliest and often not until August, leaving students in the lurch, unsure as to whether they will even be able to complete their travels and studies.
Furthermore, students wanting to spend any more than 90 days inside the EU now have to apply for visas. Not only is this a costly process that requires paperwork and often certain proof of income and/or funding (clearly disadvantaging students from lower economic backgrounds) but it also forces long-term planning, usually starting six months in advance. Despite this, students beginning their studies in September won’t know how their university has chosen to allocate its funding until August at the very earliest.
Again, well-established institutions such as Oxford University are able to offer guarantees and cover the costs if their funding varies: others are left with reduced funds or nothing at all. The entire world may now be ‘open’ to students as opposed to the ‘confines’ of Europe but the Turing Scheme still only paid out £106 million in 22/23. That is £22 million less than during our last year as members of the EU equivalent in 2020.
“79% of universities reported having difficulties in the government’s first report on the scheme.”
Combined with the ending of free healthcare and the difficulty in obtaining any kind of work visa, students and young people are simply discouraged from undertaking long-term study periods or work placements. Instead, there has been a substantial rise in those finding short-term solutions, sometimes only lasting two weeks. It did not have to be like this - during negotiations, the European Union invited the UK to become an associated third-party member of the Erasmus+ programme alongside Turkey, Iceland, and others. The UK, however, declined that invitation.
The government’s own analysis, released early last year, bears all of this out in black and white. An astounding 79% of universities reported having difficulties in the government’s first report on the scheme. Although much of that may be attributed to early challenges in adapting to the new system, institutions are still only given six weeks to apply for funding during a period which falls inside the Easter break for most universities, when their staff would ordinarily be on leave.
There are also some signs that although the Turing Scheme was meant to benefit more students from disadvantaged backgrounds, it may have done the opposite. An extract from the report shows how:
“Regarding the funding volumes, both providers and participants were likely to state that the Turing Scheme funds went some way in covering costs, but further funds (outside of the scheme) were often needed. A minority (45%) of HE participants felt the funding covered at least half of their costs on placement; this compares to the vast majority (86%) of FE/VET (further education/vocational education and training) participants.
There was a general view that some delivery issues raised had a greater impact on participants from a disadvantaged background and may have created barriers to many participating.”
It’s obvious how these problems have come about, but what is not obvious is what the government is doing to try and rectify them. In all honesty, the very way in which the system works and how late decisions are delivered makes the process inevitably much more problematic for those from disadvantaged backgrounds who cannot afford to take the risk of not being awarded funding.
“It should be straightforward to present this as what it would be: a limited arrangement with obvious benefits to both sides.”
Solutions?
Most weeks at the Student Eye, we bring you an extremely complicated problem and explain a series of possible but difficult solutions. The great thing about this is that the answer to the problem is fairly plain and simple. For some time now, the EU has made clear that it would welcome the UK into a freedom of movement deal for young people. Successive governments, however, have rejected these proposals out of hand. Despite Keir Starmer’s proclaimed ‘reset’ of relations, Britain has been in the odd scenario where it is the one being approached with proposals - very little seems to be happening the other way around.
There is, of course, negotiating to be done on the technicalities of this issue. Given the sector’s financial challenges and its dependence on the higher fees of international students, it will be vital to try to ensure that European students are not offered the same fees as domestic students. Even if the reverse is true, it seems clear to me that the benefits for Britain’s young people vastly outwiegh the negatives.
The political challenges for the Government are obvious but this should not be a hard sell - Reform UK and the right will crow that this is a ‘return to free movement’ but that would simply be incorrect. As long as the comms are right, it should be straightforward to present this as what it would be: a limited arrangement with obvious benefits to both sides.
Student loan fraud scandal
By Oliver Hall
Ordinarily, a journalist from one of the UK’s leading student publications writes an article for us about an issue local to them. This week, however, we wanted to bring you a breakdown of an investigation by Izzy Lyons and Harry Yorke for The Times last weekend.
On its most basic level, an investigation by The Times last weekend revealed that thousands stand accused of fraudulently using the student loan system. Most of them have enrolled at ‘franchised universities’ with no apparent intention of ever studying there.
Franchise universities?
Franchise universities are generally small institutions that provide specific courses, often with lower or no grade requirements, subcontracted by external, established universities. First established in 2011, their goal is to broaden access to higher education, especially in areas where there may be limited access to it. According to the government, there are currently 341 of these institutions with more than 130,000 students using their services. Remarkably, 62% of those students study business and management. The government announced at the end of last month that it would now begin requiring them to register with the OfS and that they would begin publishing data on student outcomes from these franchises in the future.
What’s the problem?
This fraud has been reported in the past, with 3,563 suspicious applications in 2022/23 but this investigation appears to show that it has exploded in scale in the last year. The Times identified a common stream of applications that often begins with recruiters on TikTok. There, would-be students are advertised to and approached by salespeople who receive commission payments for every student that they attract.
“There is no universally agreed definition of attendance and this investigation suggests that many providers may not be monitoring it properly”
Once a student applies and is accepted, they are eligible for tuition fees and maintenance loans. Tuition loans are only paid directly to the university once a student enrolls and completes their course but, crucially, maintenance loans are paid straight into the student’s bank account. As is standard across all universities, these are only repaid by students once the student has left university and earns more than £25,000. If a student never reaches that threshold or has applied with fake credentials, however, that sum will never be paid back. Although students should only receive these payments if they attend their course, there is no universally agreed definition of attendance and this investigation suggests that many providers may not be monitoring it properly.
There are some other remarkable revelations from this investigation, including statistics on the nationalities that are most commonly involved. In 2023-24, 84,000 students applied for a student loan, a number that is more than triple the number of people from Poland, Italy, and Portugal, and represents 15% of the Romanian population in the UK. The Times also saw a briefing note from the OfS in September that told universities that:
“Some … delivery partners … have been complicit in student academic misconduct, resulting in tuition fee payments being made in relation to students who should have been withdrawn from courses.”
English language proficiency is also spotlighted by the paper as they report woefully inadequate standards from many providers. Oxford Business College, which has five campuses and a student capacity of 10,000, accepts a screenshot of a test on Duolingo as proof of a sufficient level of English. According to The Times, the Student Loans Company identified £3.7 million of fraudulent claims from that college alone.
Solutions?
Clearly, the government is aware of this problem and the DoE is tightening the rules appropriately. It is important to remember the value that these franchise organisations can have for their students. Often, they are the way in which higher education providers access those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds in society and bring them into higher education. They also provide legitimate financial income that is vital for many universities’ economic survival. The problem, of course, comes when the degrees that they offer are meaningless. If students are allowed to enter and even pass these courses without speaking basic English then it is hard to argue that any employer is going to take them seriously. The value of a degree comes from what the outer world places in it and there is little point in widening access to higher education if the courses themselves teach little and become meaningless.
Universities reduced equity stakes in spin-outs
Finally this week, we wanted to follow up on a story that we covered last month. In that report, we described how UK universities “have held between 18% and 25% of equity in successful spin-outs”, significantly more than their compared to their international competitors. At that stage, the collaborative organisation TenU had suggested a target of 10-25%. The Times reported this week that universities are comfortably on track to meet the lower end of that range with stakes averaging 16.1% last year, a ten-year low and much lower than the previously reported high of 24% in 2019.
You can read our full report on university spin-outs and the economic potential of universities below.
Universities - an engine for growth?
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Around the country
Each week, we bring you a selection of our favourite stories from student publications around the UK.
Sussex Fined £585,000 by education regulator
Kayla Hanna gives The Badger’s take on the fine imposed on the University of Sussex by the Office for Students (OfS) this week. This is a freedom of speech debate that has had rare cut-through on a national level but, as ever, it is well worth reading the thoughts of students on the ground. We will be covering this in much more depth next week but this is a great primer!
Bristol Nightline to 'hang up' after 40 years of listening
Alfie Coan writes for Epigram on the closure of Bristol University’s Nightline service. Like many others around the country, the service was run by volunteers to offer support to students in need throughout the night. The article raises questions about what role universities should play in supporting such services and builds on topics discussed by Amelia last week.
A Queen’s campus in India: Success or Scandal?
Kerryann White writes for The Gown about Queen’s University Belfast’s planned campus in Gujarat, India. It follows similar moves made by other universities in recent years to open Asian campuses and this piece asks about the impact that it may have in students back in Belfast.
Thanks for another informative article. The scheme is an insult to the memory of Alan Turing. As for the administration of the student loan scheme which gives large handouts to non-students - words fail me.