Britain turned down the offer to remain a member of the cultural exchange program after Brexit.

The U.K. decided to leave the EU’s Erasmus+ student exchange scheme because Brits’ poor foreign language skills made membership too expensive to justify, a senior British official has revealed.

Lower take-up of the scheme by British students compared to other nationalities — put down to a weak aptitude for language learning — meant London expected to pay in nearly €300 million more a year than it received back, Nick Leake, a veteran senior diplomat at the U.K. Mission said this week.

It comes as youth organizations on both sides of the channel launch a renewed push for the U.K. to rejoin the scheme — and as an EU advisory body urges the Commission to get negotiations going.

  • Thorry84@feddit.nl
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    7 months ago

    Jup, Brexit is full of these we pay more money than we receive kind of things. Like duh, you receive a whole lot more than just money. But somehow everything needs to be a monetary gain?

    • Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works
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      7 months ago

      I went grocery shopping the other day but I ended up paying more money than I received so I guess I’ll just starve because it’s cheaper.

    • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      School I went to cost more than the school I did “study abroad” at. I was paying for someone else to go to my school while I was gone. Was study abroad great? Yes. I hope that other person had a good time too.