A vast majority of higher education providers reported difficulties with the application process for the UK’s Turing Scheme, according to new research that has evaluated its first year in operation.
The government’s flagship study abroad programme was created to fund placements for UK students, both in Europe and globally, as a replacement for the Erasmus+ initiative, following the country’s exit from the European Union in December 2020.
A government-commissioned independent evaluation report on how the scheme fared in 2021-22, published on 3 January, found that 79 per cent of higher education providers reported applying to join the scheme so they could access funding to send their students abroad was either “very” or “fairly” difficult.
The main challenges were the timing and length of the application window and the extent of detailed forecasting needed when filling out the form, the report says.
