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Albanian Students Abroad: A Potential Brain Drain?

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King R., Gëdeshi I.

Central and Eastern European Migration Review

2023

vol. 12

issue 2

73-97

Since 1991, Albania has become a fertile terrain for the study of migration and its relationship to development. One aspect of the country’s intense and diverse experience of emigration which has received less attention is the movement of its students into higher education abroad. To what extent does this student emigration constitute a potential brain drain? We answer this question via a mixed-method research endeavour consisting of an online survey (N=651) of Albanian students enrolled in foreign universities and follow-up in-depth interviews (N=21) with a sample of the survey respondents. The survey and interviews were carried out in 2019–2020. The survey collected data on students’ social and academic background, reasons for going abroad to study, life in the host country, attitudes towards returning to Albania and perceived barriers to return. Half of the respondents do not intend to return immediately after graduating. The remainder have a more open or uncertain mindset, including 30 per cent who say they will return only after a period spent working or doing further studies abroad. Those who intend to return, either sooner or later, do so out of a combination of family ties, nostalgia and wanting to ‘give something back’ to their home country. However, the barriers to return are perceived as formidable: low pay, lack of good jobs, corruption and a general feeling that ‘there is no future’ in Albania. The scale of loss of young brains is thus potentially considerable and a major policy concern for the future of the country.

The Emigration of Medical Doctors from Albania: Brain Drain vs Return and Cooperation

81%

Gëdeshi I., King R., Ceka A.

Central and Eastern European Migration Review

2024

issue 2

5-25

Across many countries of Central and Eastern Europe the emigration of skilled professionals since 1990 has become a serious problem of the loss of specialised human capital. This paper on Albanian doctors is one of the first to study in depth an example of this broader phenomenon of brain drain from the CEE region. There is a global demand for medical doctors which exceeds supply, leading to international competition in which the richer countries, with higher salaries and better working conditions, attract medical graduates and trained doctors from poorer countries. The migration of doctors from Albania is set within this globalised and hierarchised market for medical expertise. On the one hand, the movement of doctors to richer countries helps to plug the deficit in their supply in such countries and enables the individuals concerned to improve their incomes and life conditions. On the other hand, the loss of medical professionals severely harms the structure and quality of the health service in the sending country. This paper addresses three main questions. First, what are the characteristics of the Albanian medical brain drain in terms of its size, socio-demographics and destination countries? Second, what are the causes and consequences of Albania’s loss of medical doctors? Third, what are the prospects of the migrant doctors returning to Albania or contributing their expertise from abroad? Answers are provided via a dual methodology of an online survey of Albanian doctors currently working abroad (N=301) and follow-up interviews with 25 of them. More than half of the survey respondents do not intend to return to Albania and a further third are undecided. Interview data indicate that the doctors are well-integrated abroad and see ‘no future’ for themselves and their families in Albania. There is, however, a greater willingness to share expertise with the home country via cooperation and short visits. Obstacles to return are partly income-related but, to a greater extent, reflect the poor working conditions and career prospects in Albania, including endemic corruption – the same factors that caused emigration in the first place. The policy implications of our findings are challenging; one solution is to mandate a period of work in Albania for newly qualified doctors before they are allowed to go abroad.

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2 Central and Eastern European Migration Review

2 Gëdeshi I.

2 King R.

1 Ceka A.

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Albanian Students Abroad: A Potential Brain Drain?

The Emigration of Medical Doctors from Albania: Brain Drain vs Return and Cooperation