Forum Topic

Erasmus who he?

Worth recalling that Erasmus, after whom student exchanges were named, had a philosophy. He once wrote: "That you are patriotic will be praised by many and easily forgiven by everyone; but in my opinion it is wiser to treat men and things as though we held this world the common fatherland of all." In junking the scholarships, Boris has dumped the philosophy behind them.

Alexander MacLeod ● 1950d5 Comments

 ... and I meant to add: if the Turing scheme is going to concentrate on US, Canadian and Australian universities I don't see have that fits with reducing costs. Surely, travel costs for students will be significantly higher, or does this government just want this scheme open to the elite whose family can afford the travel and study expense? Interesting, although these are not EU organisations, many UK universities have  collaborations in Europe with ESA and CERN, although I'd accept there is participation in global projects with NASA, JAXA, etc. Is this just another of Johnson's pie-in-the-sky fantasies like the garden bridge?

Michael Ixer ● 1949d

A good point Ed. I can't remember when I became aware of Alan Turing - probably in the 70s when I was already working in IT. I think I only became aware of Tommy Flowers because of visiting Bletchley Park because I have an interest in those sorts of things. I'm not sure, but I wonder if this was necessarily deliberate: the UK government wanted to surpress knowledge of their ability to crack Enigma machine codes post WWII as some countries still used variants of them, and the US stole a lead in producing computers - we've all heard of Grace Hopper? Although, we've all also Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace ... yes, I one does wonder if Turing's personal life and Flower's background didn't fit the requirements of the ruling elite in the 40s, 50s and 60s ...

Michael Ixer ● 1949d

I wonder if this is Johnson pandering to ERG ideology? Perhaps they'd be concerned about new British students being "corrupted" by the culture in EU countries or EU students in the UK promoting how good and convevnient the EU is for them in being able to travel and around Europe with no visa or time limits, mutual health care arrangements, not having to fund banks with exchange commission, etc ... perhaps that would sound too attractive to the young in the UK? Also, my understanding is that as an EU mechanism it is governed by the ECJ: a red rag to the ERG British bulldog? Perhaps someone should have convinced Johnson, the ERG et all that it was named after a good old Brit, Erasmus Darwin of Lichfieldrather than Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam? Or perhaps he would be too liberal and broad minded for the ERG ...

Michael Ixer ● 1949d

Strange that they should choose Turing. A name the British choose to erase along with Tommy Flowers.My school computer science text books in the 80's should have had these names in them instead there was no mention.Who robbed us of the truth? Other than occupied countries what country erases their own great and good from history?Certainly not free countries!

Ed Robinson ● 1949d

I think the Erasmus scheme is being mourned more than most other consequences of Brexit. As recently as last January Johnson assured the House of Commons that there was no threat to our participation in it. And yet we’re dropping out in a unilateral decision allegedly based on cost grounds alone. Apparently too many EU students were coming over here (a financial benefit to our universities) and not enough in the opposite direction. There are no details on the new Turing scheme but it is hard to imagine how it will compensate. An inexplicable and mean decision by the govt.

Jonathan Callaway ● 1950d