Turing Scheme Delivery Partner

More than 40,000 students, learners and pupils experienced study and work around the world in the 2021/22 academic year thanks to the Turing Scheme – the UK government’s scheme to provide funding for international opportunities in education and training.

Ecorys, in partnership with the British Council, was appointed UK Government Delivery Partner for the launch and first funding round of the scheme in which almost £100 million of funding was approved and awarded to 372 projects.

The scheme provides an opportunity for UK organisations from the higher education, further education, vocational education and training and schools sectors to offer their students, learners and pupils life-changing experiences to study or work abroad. It also boosts the UK education sector’s ties with international partners and aims to improve social mobility across the UK by targeting areas which had seen lower uptake up of other mobility programmes.

Delivering on client priorities such as social mobility and global reach was key. In the first year, 48% of all mobilities awarded went to disadvantaged learners with strong representation in each of the four countries and across the nine regions of England. HMG priority destinations were also reached with 60% of placements going to non-European destinations and of that figure 33% to the Indo-Pacific region.

Jennifer Glenc, Course Lead for the Access to Higher Education Diploma in Health Sciences at Coleg Ceredigion, said: “Without the Turing Scheme, we couldn’t do this project. We don’t have any other opportunities to fund a trip like this. Out of the ten students we are taking with us, seven of them fall under the category of disadvantaged. The Turing Scheme has helped with things like funding to obtain passports. These would not have been affordable for some of our students.”

For Ecorys, our extensive experience in the international education funding sector meant we were ideally placed to support the client to create this programme from scratch and at pace, providing advice and guidance in the development stage based on our experience and feedback from our stakeholders. In delivery, our one-to-one caseload relationships helped to ensure beneficiaries felt supported in applying for a new programme and meeting their project management requirements.

Our applicant guidance was positively received by applicants, with one webinar participant saying: “Thanks a lot for your help and support, these info sessions are really useful to help us produce much better quality projects and to understand the features of the Turing programme.”

Ecorys’ responsibilities included managing the further education, vocational education and training side of the programme, for which we received 142 applications and 55.8% of participants were disadvantaged, as well as leading on the marketing and communications. Our marketing and communications included developing a brand, building and developing content for the website, social media management, PR, advertising, webinars and stakeholder engagement.

David Hughes, Chief Executive, Association of Colleges, said: “It’s encouraging to see colleges taking up all that Turing can offer – including colleges that are newer to international partnerships – exploring exchanges across a broad range of countries.

“Student mobility will be crucial post-pandemic as the world reopens and learners from all backgrounds access their chance to develop technical and personal skills, build their confidence and experience other cultures.”

We delivered:

• Grant management
• Funding application assessment
• Project support and guidance materials
• Monitoring, compliance and evaluation
• Marketing and communications
• Branding and website development in line with Government Digital Service Standards

For more on the Turing Scheme, visit the Turing Scheme website.