Joint Research Project
"Piloting Solutions for Alleviating Brain-drain in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia and Montenegro"
organized through the
UNESCO - Hewlett-Packard partnership
MONTENEGRO PROJECT
BACKGROUND
INFORMATION
BRAIN DRAIN -Piloting Solutions for Alleviating Brain-Drain in
Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia & Montenegro
The
mass emigration of young, educated people in highly sought-after
fields of expertise has been one of the most alarming phenomena
the South East European (SEE) countries have had to face since the
devastating war and break-up of the former Yugoslavia. This loss
of talent has led to an impoverishment of national capacities at a
time crucial for reconstruction and development.
The project Piloting Solutions for Alleviating Brain Drain in
South East Europe is one of UNESCO’s contributions to
international action in response to this phenomenon. It aims to
contribute towards turning “brain drain” into “brain
gain” by offering basic technological and financial
facilities to young scientists from the region to co-operate -
within the framework of joint research projects - with their
fellow-nationals living abroad.
UNESCO’s assistance towards the reconstruction process in SEE
found new impetus through the commitment made by Director-General
Koïchiro Matsuura at the Conference of Ministers of Foreign
Affairs of the Adriatic and Ionian countries in Ancona (Italy), in
May 2000. A UNESCO Strategy for SEE was elaborated and presented
at the High
Level Conference on Strengthening Cooperation in South East Europe
(UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, 4-5 April 2002). The event brought
together high representatives of SEE Member States, major
intergovernmental organizations and donor countries, and the
Conference participants identified priority projects and
underlined the need for extra-budgetary funding for their
implementation.
In the wake of the Conference, and as a result of a series of
meetings between UNESCO and Hewlett-Packard representatives, a
partnership agreement supporting the project Piloting Solutions
for Alleviating Brain Drain in SEE was signed by the two parties
on 25 April 2003, as the first in a series within the framework of
an overall UNESCO-HP partnership.
The project was elaborated by the UNESCO Education Sector in
Paris, with its implementation being assured by the UNESCO Venice
Office – Regional Bureau for Science in Europe (ROSTE), the
latter having a long-standing commitment to the reconstruction of
scientific cooperation in the sub-region.
The first meeting of the project’s Steering Group was hosted by
UNESCO-ROSTE in Venice on 10-11 July 2003, bringing together
UNESCO, HP and representatives of the three target countries of
the pilot phase: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia
and Serbia & Montenegro.
Following the successful pilot projects in South East Europe
UNESCO intends to extend the programme in cooperation with HP to
other parts of the world, which are hit by brain
drain.
Brain
drain in Montenegro
One
of the principal consequences of the series of civil wars that led
to the disintegration of former Yugoslavia was the massive brain
drain that especially affected Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also
Serbia and Montenegro and Croatia. A number of them have
university degrees in highly sought fields of expertise. Bringing
these professionals back to their countries of origin for shorter
or longer term periods and offering them opportunities for
participating in joint research projects would represent an
important assistance by UNESCO to reinforcing the intellectual and
scientific capacities of the countries. If handled correctly, this
can become the principle tool for positive economic change,
stabilization of Serbia and Montenegro and the SEE region and a
catalyst for successful integration into the European and global
communities.
Information
about people who had left University of Montenegro during 1990 to
1998.
