Report highlights ‘lost human capital’ of EU brain-drain to US

Date: 20/03/03

THE EU is suffering a brain-drain among its most gifted new scientists, according to a European Commission report.

It found that nearly three quarters of European science graduates opt to remain in America after completing doctorates there. What it refers to as "lost human capital" has increased substantially during the last decade from 49 to 73," the Commission said in its third annual science and technology indicators report released on Monday (17 March).

The research directorate in Brussels, which published the 450-page report, warned that the trend was extremely worrying "since it is generally recognised that the period following a PhD graduation is likely to represent the most productive years of a researcher's career".

The report also found that:

One in ten non-US citizens employed in science and technology (S&T) in the United States are born in the EU;

• in 1999, some 85,700 US employees working in S&T originated from the EU - 28,400 British, 25,200 German and 7,700 Italian;
• between 1991 and 2000, 15,158 US doctoral degrees were awarded to EU-born students (4,000 to German, 3,000 to British, 1,400 to French and nearly 800 to Italians), and;
• another 4,500 students from candidate countries and 800 students from the European Free Trade Association countries complete the number of Europeans studying in the US.

The EU is suffering a brain-drain among its most gifted new scientists, according to the European Commission's third annual science and technology indicators report released on 17 March 2003.

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/03/389&format=HTML&rapid=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/03/389&format=HTML&rapid=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

http://cordis.europa.eu/indicators/third_report.htm http://cordis.europa.eu/indicators/third_report.htm

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