The Turing Scheme, named after mathematician Alan Turing, was launched following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU Erasmus+ programme and is aimed at encouraging students from all backgrounds to choose to study abroad.
Sheffield Hallam was awarded £612,000 under the new scheme for the academic year 2021/22, which will allow up to 364 undergraduate students to undertake an international study or work placement.
'Spending time in a different country is life-changing for students'
The Turing Scheme funding will financially support students by covering the cost of travel and living expenses while abroad and students from disadvantaged or non-traditional backgrounds are encouraged to apply.
Professor Sir Chris Husbands, Vice-Chancellor of Sheffield Hallam University, said: “Spending time in a different country is life-changing for students – expanding horizons, encouraging new ways of thinking and improving employment prospects.
“Through our partnerships with international organisations and institutions we have developed a significant number of global opportunities, which have a positive impact on our learning community.
“I am pleased the University has received such a significant amount of funding through the Turing Scheme to enable more of our students to be able to take up such opportunities.”
Harry Withers, a psychology student at Sheffield Hallam University, studied abroad in Warsaw before the pandemic.
Harry said: “It was not something that was always in my plans. I saw it advertised online and it was a bit of a spur of the moment thing, but I thought it seems like a good opportunity.
“I arrived in Warsaw and I didn’t know anybody else there, but you soon realise that everybody is in the same boat. It’s really quite easy to meet people and get settled in. I know people from so many different countries from studying on Erasmus.
“I am definitely more confident now and am more open to taking on new experiences and trying new things that I wouldn’t have necessarily tried to do before.”
The Turing Scheme will enable more than 35,000 students from UK to work or study abroad. Further information is available on the Turing Scheme website.
