WIREDGOV

At present, very few British students study abroad. For every 15 foreign students studying in the UK, there is just 1 UK student studying abroad.

In an increasingly global economy, this means we are missing out on vital skills, which is why we are encouraging our young people to study overseas as part of our International Education Strategy.

Erasmus+ will give more young people from the UK the opportunity to experience new cultures, understand different ways of working, develop crucial language skills and give them a global outlook.

We are delighted to be working with our long-standing National Agency partners Ecorys UK to deliver Erasmus+. The programme represents a fantastic opportunity for UK participants, especially young people, to gain the valuable experience and skills that will help them prosper in today’s challenging economic climate.

We look forward to continuing to support UK organisations in securing funding that can have a real impact on the skills and employability of participants. We would strongly encourage organisations to make the most of the opportunities available under Erasmus+.

1. This appointment is subject to final contractual agreements and approval by the European Commission.

2. For more information about Erasmus+, see www.erasmusplus.org.uk and http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-programme/erasmus_en.htm

3. Since 2007, the British Council and Ecorys have distributed funds of over €568,000,000 through the Erasmus, Comenius, Leonardo, Grundtvig, Transversal and Youth in Action programmes. The British Council has supported over 90,000 UK students through the Erasmus programme. Over 6,000 school partnerships have been formed under Comenius and eTwinning, enhancing teaching and learning and developing skills for over 100,000 teachers and around 2 million pupils in the UK. Over 40,000 participants, the majority young people, have taken part in vocational placements to enhance employability and gain work experience through the Leonardo programme. In the non-formal sector, Youth in Action has enabled 50,000 young people to take part in community-level projects with their counterparts in other countries, while 5,000 youth workers have made use of opportunities for professional development.

4. The British Council creates international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and builds trust between them worldwide. It has 7,000 staff in over 100 countries working with thousands of professionals and policy makers and millions of young people every year through English, arts, education and society programmes. For more information, please visit: www.britishcouncil.org. You can also keep in touch with the British Council through http://twitter.com/britishcouncil and http://blog.britishcouncil.org/.

5. Ecorys provides communication, research and technical assistance services across education, economic and social policy areas. Ecorys employs over 150 staff in the UK specialising in education and culture, communications, public grant managed programmes and capacity building. For more information see www.uk.ecorys.com and follow the LLP team on twitter www.twitter.com/llpUKecorys and Wordpress http://llpUKecorys.com.

6. The government’s economic policy objective is to achieve ‘strong, sustainable and balanced growth that is more evenly shared across the country and between industries’. It set 4 ambitions in the ‘Plan for Growth’, published at Budget 2011:

• to create the most competitive tax system in the G20
• to make the UK the best place in Europe to start, finance and grow a business
• to encourage investment and exports as a route to a more balanced economy
• to create a more educated workforce that is the most flexible in Europe