Combating brain drain: a Romanian perspective
CEO of Romania's national institute for R&D (research and development) in microtechnologies, Dan Dascalu, has told CORDIS News of his fear of brain drain, and what his country is doing to address the issue. While Professor Dascalu is concerned that brain drain is 'a real problem in Romania and other countries in Eastern Europe,' he is confident that the implementation of a European Research Area (ERA) will go some way towards alleviating the problem. 'ERA is a solution in that it strives for a European career for researchers and doesn't try to keep people in the country,' Professor Dascalu told CORDIS News. In the long term, however, it is desirable that researchers return to their home country, he added. One initiative which Professor Dascalu is sure will encourage Romanian researchers to remain in the country is NanoLINK, a web forum and network bringing together stakeholders from research, education and industry, launched on 10 December. Another is the institute of which Professor Dascalu is CEO. 'The first candidates for brain drain are always the young, and our institute is young and we have lots of young researchers. We have lost hundreds, but the average age of researchers at the institute is now 36.' By contrast, the average age of staff at the university where Professor Dascalu teaches, Politehnica University, is 54. 'This gives the feeling that things are improving. But this is an exception, and not the rule,' said Professor Dascalu. Professor Dascalu would like to see the European Commission working together with national authorities to develop a long term strategy, not just for countering brain drain, but also for increasing the performance and capacity of research in Romania and other candidate and acceding countries. 'The Commission can be a good counsellor,' said Professor Dascalu. 'It could suggest solutions and give examples.' It is essential that local and regional authorities are involved, he added, as 'the same solution is not appropriate for every country - the culture and level of development are different from one country to another.'
Kraje
Romania