Erasmus vs Turing: The future of studying in a post-Brexit Europe

With the uncertain impacts of Brexit now starting to materialise, Enis Yucekoralp looks at what withdrawal from the EU will mean for the educational links between Spain and Britain

On 1 January 2021, the UK fully left the EU, ending more than four decades of enjoying the rights and benefits of membership (Getty)

In March, Spain’s foreign minister, Arancha Gonzalez Laya, was asked if there was something she would miss about the United Kingdom as it left the European Union. “They’ve always been ultra-pragmatists in international relations, and I will miss that,” she said. “I will also miss this ability they had to look at the world as a globalised country which they are in. In a way, Spain would feel a close affinity to the UK in that we have a history where we’ve looked at the world.”

Of course, Spain and Britain share a long and intricate past – from 16th-century Tudor marriages to wars, allegiances, expat mining companies and the friendly roots of 19th century fútbol. Today, however, they are interwoven through a network of socio-economic, political, and academic alliances fuelled by lucrative tourism and bilateral migration.  

“But I guess that’s what British citizens have decided,” continued González, “so we’ll try to, in any event – from this new position of the UK being a third country to the European Union – continue to have a close alliance and extremely close relationships with the UK.”