Spanish government drops plans to cut European student funding scheme

Spanish students demonstrating against education cuts
 last month in Madrid. 

The Spanish government has abandoned plans for deep cuts to an European scheme that allows degree and post-graduate students to study abroad.

The education minister José Ignacio Wert was forced to back down after a rebellion in his own party, the governing Partido Popular, and has agreed that the 10,000 students already on the Erasmus scheme will receive the grants they were promised.

Spain's contribution to the programme has dropped from €62.7m (£53m) in 2011 to €16m (£13.4m) this year, a 71% fall. Wert's department had insisted that it is not a cutback but a "concentration", with more funds being available to the candidates with the least resources.

Earlier on Tuesday the EU spokesman Olivier Bailly criticised the Spanish government, saying: "The Spanish authorities should have notified the students of this before the academic year began. I hope that the legitimate expectations of students who are already in the Erasmus programme will be met by the Spanish authorities."

Erasmus students are funded from three sources: the European commission, which puts €500m (£420m) into the scheme each year, the student's home government and local authorities. Thirty-six European countries participate in the scheme, and about 250,000 students take part every year.

One thousand four hundred students from Granada who are studying abroad will find themselves without government support, which amounted to around €180 a month. The Spanish government will offer up to €300 a month to a smaller number of poorer students. EU grants are on average €250 a month.

Spain sends the most Erasmus students abroad – about 39,000 – and also receives the most, also about 39,000. The most popular Erasmus destinations in Europe are the universities of Granada and Valencia.

- theguardian.com