The UK pulling out of Erasmus+ post-Brexit was an “ideological assault” by the Conservative government and a “travesty”, Scotland’s minister for further education, higher education and science has said.

Speaking exclusively to Tes, Richard Lochhead said what had happened to the Erasmus+ programme was “an absolute travesty”.

“It is an ideological assault by the Conservative government that has left our younger generations the victims,” he said. “I have no doubt in my mind that UK government ministers viewed Erasmus+ as some kind of emblem of European solidarity and therefore they wanted to walk away from it.”

The Westminster government recently launched the Turing scheme, which it says will replace Erasmus+ now that the UK has left the EU. The scheme, it says, is a global one, providing the UK’s young people with broader opportunities than the EU predecessor.

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Mr Lochhead said: “The Turing scheme is a very poor substitute and with every day that goes by, more and more people are uncovering aspects of the scheme that highlight that it really is a huge step backwards to where we were before.”

A ‘very poor substitute’ for Erasmus student-exchange scheme

He said there was sometimes a misconception that Erasmus was only about university students being able to take part in exchange programmes.: “Of course, it also supported young people of all backgrounds from all sectors - universities, schools, colleges, youth work and even adult education benefited from Erasmus. The new scheme, of course, is not even an exchange scheme - it is only about outwards mobility and is a global scheme. It is not helping to the same extent maintain Scotland’s long-standing links with Europe.”

Mr Lochhead said the Scottish government was determined to make sure Scotland’s young people did not miss out: “The  Scottish government, with support right across our sectors, is determined to maintain dialogue with the European Commission and the European Parliament to explore how we can maintain as close a relationship as possible with Erasmus going forward. Clearly, our options are limited because we are not a state and therefore there is no mechanism for one part of the UK to have full participation. So we just have to keep working with Europe to see what other options may be on the table.

“That is going to be a priority for the coming months and, in the meantime, we are looking at other ways of ensuring that Scotland is an outward-looking, international education system that provides opportunities for our young people to benefit from cultural and educational exchange. We are looking at scholarships and how we can support our own institutions to join alliances with their European counterparts. We are hoping to say a lot more about that in the coming months.”

Speaking during Prime Minister’s Questions in Westminster yesterday, prime minister Boris Johnson said: “The Turing scheme, unlike the Erasmus scheme, which overwhelmingly went to kids from better-off homes, is designed to help kids across the country of all income groups get to fantastic universities around the world.

“Students should choose the Turing scheme because it is fantastic and it reaches out across the whole country.”