Regarding the Austrian higher education institutions’ participation in the EU programme Erasmus+ the UK’s motion to exit the European Union on March 29th, 2017 has no immediate consequences for current agreements within the Erasmus+ programme. “Currently the Brexit has no consequences. What will happen in the future will be a matter of negotiation”, said the OeAD’s director general Dr. Stefan Zotti in the Austrian news programme ZIB 2 on April 13th. “From our point of view science is based on cooperation and collaboration – this works better in a common Europe. Whether or not there will be ways for future cooperation will depend on the negotiations”, Zotti said.
All stays abroad of Austrian students, pupils, apprentices and teaching staff can take place as planned in 2017 and 2018. This also applies if those payments continue beyond the point of the UK’s eventual EU exit date. Project cooperations that are or will be approved in the 2017 and 2018 calls can also take place as planned (the usual duration of these projects is two years).
The UK is one of the Austrian students’ three favourite destinations for study periods abroad. For schools, vocational and adult education institutions it is the most popular country. 21 percent of all internships of apprentices take place in the UK; in 2016 this was approximately 150 people.
For further information see the website of the British National Agency.