Threat to Erasmus scheme numbers

The number of places offered to students under the European Union’s Erasmus exchange programme may be reduced if a budgetary shortfall is not addressed, the European Commission has warned.

The programme, which allows third-level students complete part of their study or training abroad, needs an additional €90 million to plug a hole in its budget for 2012.

The commission said it would have to reduce the number of places offered to students or to cut their level of grants if the situation was not remedied before the end of the year.

Some 4,000 Irish students took part EU-sponsored study programmes at foreign universities under the Erasmus programme or in work placements under the Leonardo da Vinci programme during the last academic year.

The commission is seeking an additional €8.9 billion as part of an emergency budget to cover the EU’s 2012 spending commitments in a number of areas, including student programmes.

However, this is being resisted by some member states who wish to impose cuts on the EU’s annual budget to reflect the austerity programmes being adopted in several countries.

In a statement, the commission said: “The Erasmus programme needs an additional €90 million and is at risk of having to substantially reduce the number of places offered to students or to cut their level of grants; this will obviously hit students from disadvantaged backgrounds the hardest”.

It said students going abroad during the first semester of the 2012/2013 academic year should not have problems as the relevant national agencies had already received adequate funding to cover their grants.

However, it warned that if the lack of payment persisted “there might be a problem for students who are abroad during the second semester 2012/2013”.

Fianna Fáil MEP Liam Aylward, as a member of the European Parliament’s culture and education committee, is due to participate in a debate at the parliament in Strasbourg tomorrow on the risk posed to EU student programmes by the ongoing budgetary row.