The prospect of Scotland and Wales staying in the Erasmus+ student exchange scheme, after the UK as a whole has left the programme, would ¡°require some serious rule-bending¡±, a policy expert has said.

Thomas J?rgensen, senior policy coordinator at the European University Association, said that the trade and cooperation agreement between the European Union and the UK was ¡°not at all geared to separate treatment for regions¡±.

¡°If it is at all possible, it will require some serious rule-bending from what we know,¡± he said, when asked whether there were any mechanisms in place that would allow the devolved nations to separately seek association.

¡°To begin with, the last we saw of the regulation ¨C the final version is agreed, but not public ¨C talked about countries, and seen from the EU, the country is the UK.¡±

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Dr J?rgensen added that a ¡°more concrete and realistic option¡± was that the UK as a whole and its devolved nations ¡°lobby for flexible treatment of the UK as a partner country¡± in Erasmus+ ¡°so that UK institutions can participate in parts of the programme, at times, at their own cost, which might then be covered by the Welsh or Scottish government¡±.

¡°The window for defining this is still open. Then in the long run, the UK can still change its mind and seek to associate to the whole programme,¡± he said.

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The UK government decided to leave the Erasmus+ programme, after the two sides were?unable to agree on the cost?of the country¡¯s continued membership.

Earlier this week, the Scottish and Welsh governments confirmed that they were exploring?how they might be able to participate?in Erasmus+. In the meantime, they said that they should be given any replacement funding for the scheme from the UK government in the first instance ¡°to allow us to exercise our right to deliver educational services within our respective nations¡±.

They added that the UK¡¯s proposed alternative to Erasmus+, the Turing scheme, was ¡°a lesser imitation of the real thing¡±.

Richard Lochhead, Scotland¡¯s further and ÖйúAƬ minister, said that he had?engaged in productive talks with Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for innovation, research, culture, education and youth, to explore the idea of continued participation.

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A spokeswoman for the European Commission said that it had received a letter signed by a number of MEPs on the subject of the constituent nations of the UK associating to Erasmus+ programmes and ¡°it would not be right to pre-empt the content of that response¡±.

ellie.bothwell@timeshighereducation.com