Albanian students abroad, their community-building potential and perspective

Topics: Migration, brain drain, brain gain, Albanians

The fall of the iron curtain and the breakdown of the communist block initiated migration processes in many of the Balkan countries formerly under communist regimes. Albania, a country in the Balkans with a population of approximately 3.4 million, has since been largely exposed to migration processes (inner migration as well as emigration). The number of Albanian emigrants spread around most of the western countries during the last 17 years is believed to have reached the 1 million margin. Although the direct economic effect of remittances from Albanian emigrants is well perceived by Albanian decision makers and public opinion, very little is known about how emigrants organize themselves and what forms of communities they develop abroad. In the context of issues like “brain drain” or “brain gain”, certain social groups among emigrants such as professionals, students, intellectuals and their interactions in communities abroad become of substantial importance and should be paid special attention. What form of communities or organization forms do we find nowadays among the Albanian emigrants? More precisely, what kind of dynamics exists in community-building processes nowadays and what will the future look like especially among special groups of Albanians abroad(professionals, intellectuals and students) which might play a role in brain gain processes?

Albanians have a long history of emigration mainly due to poor economic development and war. In the last 50 years Albanians have had two major emigration waves. From these two waves only the second emigration wave seems to be interesting in terms of "brain drain" and "brain gain" processes.

The first wave of Albanian emigration was triggered by the post-war economic boom of western European countries and by their need during the 60's for foreign unqualified workers, so called guest-workers. Many Albanians, mainly from rural areas in Kosovo and Macedonia, emigrated into western Europe during the time and built the core of the big Albanian communities in Europe. These communities still exist and function on the same rules as back in the 60's. They were built replicating the social organization found in the home countries or regions where the emigrants came from. In the Albanian case the main engine driving the creation and development of these communities was the conservative patriarchal family system. The family structure lying at the basis of these communities seem to have contributed in the preservation of the ties to the home country even until now. However, the lack of integration policies from the receiving countries contributed to the hermetic-like closure of these communities in such a way that most of them have developed culturally at an even slower pace than the communities in the home countries. Such emigrant communities have been so far unable to gain much from the culture of the receiving countries. But, most important, in many European countries it's even unclear in what direction the second or third generation from these communities is developing. The turbulences in France during the end of 2005 caused mainly from the frustration of young people with a migration background and the continuously discouraging emigrant education statistics in Germany seem to affirm that even the new generations from such communities are far from being well-integrated and educated. This phenomena is not confined only in France or Germany but seems to be a European-wide problem.

Thus, although the ties of these “old” communities to the home countries are still relatively good, the new generations do not seem to have the potential to play a proactive role in community-building processes of professionals as well as brain gain processes.

During the 90's the fall of communism and the ensuing economic instability in Albania along with the wave of repression of Albanians in Kosovo from Miloseviç's regime initiated the second wave of emigration for Albanians. These dramatic events in both Albania and Kosovo broadened the social base of the Albanian emigration. Unlike during the first emigration wave, many professionals, intellectuals, students etc. emigrated thus starting brain drain processes. Although there are no precise statistics, rough estimates suggest that at least Albania has been hit hard from the loss of a considerable part of its professionals, intellectuals and students.

While groups like professionals and intellectuals do not seem to have been able to create local communities among themselves until now for several reasons (emigration on personal and not patriarchal family basis, irregular geographical scattering, age when new social contacts are difficult, lack of a stable economic base etc.) the dynamics among the students abroad suggest a different view. Students are the most interesting group concerning community-building. They are mainly concentrated in certain cities or even universities and are also in an age when building new social ties is easy. Students have direct connection to their homeland either through their family, friends or through the many travels home. Of all groups they are the one who gain most from the culture of the countries where they study. Students have the needed energy and free time to create active communities. They have also excelled at the use of the new digital communication technologies, nowadays indispensable for communities. All these factors have made student communities the most numerous and well-organized among those of the Albanians abroad. Also in the few non-student organizations in many cases students have had a key role in either creation or development. How active student communities can be, can be seen even from the fact that in the recent big project of UNDP and the Albanian state named “brain gain”, from the two previous successful projects on brain gain that are referenced one has been developed and implemented by the student communities themselves.

In the middle and long term students are the only group that has the potential to create active local and wider communities of professionals. The role of this kind of communities and their ties to the homeland are substantial as they have a big potential in brain gain processes. Moreover communities created from (former) students could attract the passive part of the intellectuals or professionals, who don't have the possibility to create communities on their own, to join and become active.

However, the gradual transformation of student communities to communities of professionals is not easy and far from natural. New communities need, especially during the start, some kind of support or some form of subvention. In an increasingly global society the pressure from the market for almost unconditional mobility is remarkable. Many Albanian students have the tendency to follow the market forces unconditionally after graduation as they lack a financial buffer to resist. A lot of them make a second big move after finishing their academic studies. Under such circumstances creation or development of professional communities from students is a tough challenge.

An efficient way to support such a transformation would be the creation of a national program extending for several years for financial support of the projects of the many student communities abroad. This should be seen as a middle term investment for future professional communities and networks. In most cases several hundred Euros yearly make the difference between student communities unable to survive and very active ones. Just to give an idea, if we reckon the support of 100 communities yearly, the sum would not surpass 100 thousand Euros. Adding the infrastructure and administrative costs would rise the overall sum to, lets say 150-200 thousand Euros per year. This is a ridiculously low sum compared to the community-building and the brain gain potential of the students and if we keep in mind that only for the war in Iraq the Albanian state has spent for years and still continues to spend several million dollars per month. Besides the fact that from such a program the local student communities abroad would thrive, it also allows the Albanian state to have a major influence, to direct and accompany the development of student communities into communities of professionals. Although such control from the Albanian state, if unchecked, contains a risk of political manipulation it is anyway worth investing in student communities.

There is not much time left. According to the statistics of ALBSTUDENT (Pyetesori Albstudent 2005-2006) 65% of the students will finish their studies in the next 2 years. If we put some years of tolerance it means that the creation process of the networks of professionals should take place during the next five years. Student communities are starting to react. It is time for the Albanian state to come into play. It should set the support of the local student communities abroad among its top priorities of its "brain gain" strategy. It should finally recognize the potential of not only those students who return but also of those who choose to stay in foreign countries.

Endri Deliu
Hamburg 28.01.2007