Highly skilled migration from Albania: an assessment of current trends and the ways ahead

Within the last decade, developed countries' immigration policies have become increasingly skewed in favour of skilled migrants. Despite this recent attention on the emigration of the highly skilled workers from Albania has yet to be analysed in a systematic way. There is an urgent need to have a more accurate picture of the size and intensity of this phenomenon. This paper aims to fill this gap. The authors provide a summary of the existing debate on the economic literature concerning migration of highly skilled workers from developing countries. The paper reviews the pattern and chronology of Albanian emigration since 1990, before looking specifically at the emigration of the highly skilled.

Based on the findings of a survey and examples of encouraging experiences from other countries the paper discusses a number of channels through which Albania can turn its brain drain into brain gain. The following findings and recommendations are provided:

• it will become increasingly difficult for Albania to retain the existing pool of technicians and scientists unless proper policies are put in place, 
  
• the emerging priority for Albania is not to stop migration, but to see how the benefits of migration might be optimised, tapping into the educated and skilled both at home and abroad
• it would be beneficial for Albania to offer a more attractive education system for potential students as well as professors and researchers who might want to return
• the government could consider return migration with expatriates bringing home new skills, experience and financial resources
• athough the vast majority of Albanian highly skilled emigrants may be firmly grounded in their new destinations, a good number of them would be willing to contribute to political, economic and social life in Albania and become part of the transnational community that links Albania to the rest of the world.