UK 'missing out on foreign study'

Other countries have 'more of a mobility culture', it is argued

British students are missing out on the chance to study in another European country as part of their university course, the European Commission says.

Only just over 7,000 UK students took part in the commission's Erasmus university exchange scheme last year.

About three times as many took part from other large European countries like France, Germany, and Spain.

Financial, linguistic and cultural factors have all been blamed for the low rate of UK student participation.

The latest figures, for the academic year 2004-5, show that the number of British students taking part in the academic and cultural exchange scheme fell to 7,214, down from 7,539 the previous year.

By contrast numbers from other countries continue to rise, with a total of 144,000 students last year compared to 135,586 the previous year.

Some 21,561 students took part from France and 22,427 participated from Germany. Also ahead of the UK were: Spain (20,819), Italy (16,440) and Poland (8,390).

The Erasmus exchange scheme, set up in 1987, is described as the European Commission's "flagship" education programme.

There is more of a mobility culture in other countries John Reilly Director, UK Socrates-Erasmus Council

It allows undergraduates to take part of their degree course in another of 31 European countries.

The courses can be in any subject, grants are available, and some classes are even in English.

John Reilly, director of the UK Socrates-Erasmus Council, said the numbers were "disappointing".

He said that a previous study by the Higher Education Funding Council for England suggested that linguistic and financial factors were major barriers to participation.

But he added: "There is no doubt that linguistic and financial reasons are primary factors but they could be managed if there was the cultural motivation.

"There is more of a mobility culture in other countries and students there recognise that this is the way the world is and if you want to raise your employability then you need to develop these skills."

Mr Reilly added that the picture was "worrying from the perspective of the UK as a global player".

Ignorance?

Ashling Withers, a media, French and business student at Salford University, told the BBC News website: "I spent a year in Clermont-Ferrand, France as part of the Erasmus exchange and as a result can now speak good French and it has influenced me to apply for jobs abroad - and I'm looking into learning Spanish when I graduate.

"However I don't think it is soley a problem with cultural and language issues within British people but partly to do with the awareness of the programme. My course incorporated the programme as compulsory otherwise I would have had little or no knowledge about it."

Another student, Ben Shapland, said: "I chose to study Italian in university because I had enjoyed studying foreign languages in school, however I had not taken any language past AS-level.

"The problem for me is the teaching and promotion of foreign languages in schools ... sadly part of a broader cultural problem.

"A large number of British people have no conception of the world outside the UK, except for holiday destinations where there is usually no need to speak any language other than English."

But Sarah Cromwell, a law and French student "wholeheartedly enjoying" her time at Robert Schuman University in Strasbourg, France, said: "I think it is a disservice to blame students for not using the Erasmus scheme to their advantage when really it is the EC and the universities themselves who do little to actively promote the scheme on British campuses."

She added: "Thousands of students flock to programmes like Camp America and Bunac every summer and this is due not only to the schemes' longstanding reputations but also to their marketing and publicity on university campuses across the UK.

"Why doesn't the EC follow this successful example instead of doing an injustice to British students by saying they lack the pre-requisite skills for educational exchanges?"