Luísa Cerdeira

Brain drain and the disenchantment of being a higher education student in Portugal

ABSTRACT The efforts made by most countries to accelerate economic development have included a significant investment in education. It has been argued that investment in education, particularly higher education, was itself a potential factor in economic development. Education has become a relatively easy means of improving access to the labour market. However, in Portugal, the recent trend has been reversed, and the country now faces a growing number of university graduates in several fields of education and training that do not have a job based on their formal qualifications. Despite the differences of unemployment by area of education and training, unemployment of the young skilled has been a problem in recent years. Therefore, following this unemployment trend, there has been growing the exodus of highly skilled professionals from the Portuguese economy, leaving it with a reduced supply of skilled people. This article discusses the employability of graduates from several academic areas and discusses the educational and economic policies that generate a real brain drain.

The Rise of the Administrative Estate in Portuguese Higher Education

This chapter analyses the development of the ‘Administrative Estate’ in Portuguese higher education institutions (HEIs) from 1974 to the present. The rise in the number and diversity of HEIs, the implementation of policies, growth in student numbers, the press for accountability, efficiency, effectiveness and Europeanisation have had marked impact on this body. How rapidly have the ranks of administrative staff grown compared with the Student and the Academic Estates? Many scholars claim bureaucratisation has developed in HEIs as a response to increased demands to show accountability. Bureaucratisation, some argue, has weakened the sense of autonomy and hints at a loss of influence by academia. Explanation for this is sought by reviewing the literature on the rise of the Administrative Estate at the institutional level. The jury is still out on whether reinforcement of that Estate brought about an improvement in the quality of services with which it has been entrusted.

The decision to emigrate: a study from the perspective of dispositional plurality

This paper analyses the Portuguese high-skilled emigration, focusing on the emigration decision-making process. This article aims to understand the dispositions leading to this decision, and the social processes that explain its origin, sedimentation and activation. To this end, and using the theoretical and methodological approach of Bernard Lahire, 53 sociological portraits of skilled Portuguese who emigrated to other European countries are cross-sectional analyzed. This analysis is supplemented by data from a survey previously administered. Thus, we will address how the migratory dispositions are built through the individual biographies, highlighting the heuristic potential of the individual observation scale.Este artigo analisa a emigracao portuguesa qualificada, focando-se sobre a producao da decisao de emigrar. E seu objetivo compreender as disposicoes que conduzem a essa decisao, bem como os processos sociais que explicam a sua genese, sedimentacao e ativacao. Para isso, e recorrendo a proposta teorica e metodologica de Bernard Lahire, procede-se a analise transversal de 53 retratos sociologicos de portugueses qualificados que emigraram para outros paises europeus, complementada pelos dados de um inquerito administrado previamente. Deste modo, daremos conta da forma como as disposicoes migratorias se constroem atraves dos percursos biograficos, ressaltando as potencialidades heuristicas da escala individual de observacao.

A decisão de emigrar : um estudo a partir da perspetiva da pluralidade

This paper analyses the Portuguese high-skilled emigration, focusing on the emigration decision-making process. This article aims to understand the dispositions leading to this decision, and the social processes that explain its origin, sedimentation and activation. To this end, and using the theoretical and methodological approach of Bernard Lahire, 53 sociological portraits of skilled Portuguese who emigrated to other European countries are cross-sectional analyzed. This analysis is supplemented by data from a survey previously administered. Thus, we will address how the migratory dispositions are built through the individual biographies, highlighting the heuristic potential of the individual observation scale.Este artigo analisa a emigracao portuguesa qualificada, focando-se sobre a producao da decisao de emigrar. E seu objetivo compreender as disposicoes que conduzem a essa decisao, bem como os processos sociais que explicam a sua genese, sedimentacao e ativacao. Para isso, e recorrendo a proposta teorica e metodologica de Bernard Lahire, procede-se a analise transversal de 53 retratos sociologicos de portugueses qualificados que emigraram para outros paises europeus, complementada pelos dados de um inquerito administrado previamente. Deste modo, daremos conta da forma como as disposicoes migratorias se constroem atraves dos percursos biograficos, ressaltando as potencialidades heuristicas da escala individual de observacao.

A decisão de emigrar: um estudo a partir da perspetiva da pluralidade disposicional

This paper analyses the Portuguese high-skilled emigration, focusing on the emigration decision-making process. This article aims to understand the dispositions leading to this decision, and the social processes that explain its origin, sedimentation and activation. To this end, and using the theoretical and methodological approach of Bernard Lahire, 53 sociological portraits of skilled Portuguese who emigrated to other European countries are cross-sectional analyzed. This analysis is supplemented by data from a survey previously administered. Thus, we will address how the migratory dispositions are built through the individual biographies, highlighting the heuristic potential of the individual observation scale.Este artigo analisa a emigracao portuguesa qualificada, focando-se sobre a producao da decisao de emigrar. E seu objetivo compreender as disposicoes que conduzem a essa decisao, bem como os processos sociais que explicam a sua genese, sedimentacao e ativacao. Para isso, e recorrendo a proposta teorica e metodologica de Bernard Lahire, procede-se a analise transversal de 53 retratos sociologicos de portugueses qualificados que emigraram para outros paises europeus, complementada pelos dados de um inquerito administrado previamente. Deste modo, daremos conta da forma como as disposicoes migratorias se constroem atraves dos percursos biograficos, ressaltando as potencialidades heuristicas da escala individual de observacao.

Transfer investment on education on a free cost basis: some evidence from Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy

For decades, education has been viewed as an instrument for social mobility and also as a tool for economic growth and social development. Over the recent years, we have witnessed an output movement of highly qualified graduates, from peripheral southern Europe to the more developed countries of the EU and OECD. In this article, we analyse the reality of four countries: Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy. In order to examine the socio-economic impact of this brain drain, it will be introduced an estimation using OECD statistics (2014) of the public and private costs to educate a student from primary schooling through a higher education degree. In spite of the differences among these countries’ experiences, there is no doubt that these countries “offered” high qualified workers for free or at a zero cost basis to the “importing” countries.