From 2027, UK organisations can take part in Erasmus+ once again. It’s welcome news for universities, colleges and professional educators and a reminder that the wider question of recognising qualifications across borders is still being worked out.
After several lean years, there is good news for the UK’s education sector. In April 2026 the European Commission confirmed that the UK will once again be associated to Erasmus+, the EU’s flagship programme for education, training, youth and sport. UK organisations will be able to apply to take part in Erasmus+ projects funded from 2027, through the annual call for proposals opening in autumn 2026. This will put the UK back on the same footing as EU Member States and the other associated countries.
It is a meaningful change. Since 2021, UK participation had been limited to the parts of the programme open to institutions worldwide, such as Erasmus Mundus and Jean Monnet. Full association reopens the wider programme: student and staff mobility, cooperation partnerships, and the cross-border projects that many universities and colleges had built into their international strategies before 2021 and have missed since.
Why it matters for the sector
For professional and higher education institutions, the return of Erasmus+ is more than a funding line. Programmes like this are how institutions build and maintain international relationships. The partnerships, exchanges and joint projects that raise an institution’s profile, enrich the student experience, and keep curricula outward-looking. They also rebuild something less tangible but just as valuable – familiarity and trust between education systems that have drifted apart since Brexit.
The opportunities will not appear overnight, details will come with the 2027 call for proposals, and individual mobility opportunities from projects selected in 2027 are likely to become available only in the second half of that year at the earliest. Institutions that want to take part will benefit from preparing now by revisiting old partnerships, scoping projects, and getting familiar with the programme’s priorities ahead of the call.
Exchange is not the same as the right to practise
There is, though, an important distinction worth keeping in view. Erasmus+ supports mobility and cooperation in education, it helps people study, train and collaborate across borders. What it does not do is give a qualified professional the right to practise their profession in another country. That is a separate question, governed by the mutual recognition of professional qualifications, and for the UK and EU that is still very much unfinished business.
Since 2021, a UK-qualified professional wanting to work in the EU, or an EU professional wanting to work in the UK, has had to satisfy the rules of each country individually as the automatic recognition that existed before fell away. The current government has made securing a mutual recognition agreement for professional qualifications one of its objectives, and dedicated UK–EU dialogues on the subject are under way, though progress has so far been slower than on other parts of the post-Brexit reset.
For institutions whose graduates go on to regulated professions such as in law, engineering, accountancy, architecture, healthcare and beyond, this is the development to watch next. The return of Erasmus+ rebuilds the educational scaffolding but the recognition of professional qualifications is the harder, slower piece that determines whether those graduates can actually work across borders.
Hook Tangaza has spent many years advising universities, professional bodies, regulators and governments on exactly this kind of work, from international partnerships and qualification recognition to the regulatory groundwork that makes mobility real. If your institution is thinking about how to make the most of Erasmus+, or watching the professional-recognition question closely, we can help you explore this further. Find out more about our Professional and Higher Education Services or get in touch – mail@hooktangaza.com or brussels@hooktangaza.com
