Ana Marija Kopert from Ino Edukacija, a centre for studies abroad, says that close to 15,000 students leave Serbia every year to study in a foreign country, mainly in Austria, Germany, Italy and France, and more recently in Norway and Russia. Between 50 and 60% of them then return home.
“Many of the Serbian citizens also have Croatian, Hungarian or other passports, so they can study in the EU as their citizens,” she notes and adds that 150 students a year leave Serbia to study in Russia and that Italy awards is known for giving a large number of scholarships.
“Great Britain has become a popular studying destination again. Because of Brexit, our students can now obtain work permits easily, because no longer important that they have to have EU status. College tuition has also become cheaper the interest in studying in the UK had been declining,” Kopert adds.
She also points out that Serbia is also becoming an ‘incoming’ destination. An increasing number of foreign students are coming to Serbia to study and many of them deciding to stay after graduation.
“Most of them come from North Africa – countries like Egypt, Morocco and Libya. Getting a residence visa in Serbia is not easy. Some projections show that Serbia will become a very popular country for university studies in the next 10 years,” Kopert says.
The number of graduates who return to Serbia after completing their studies is also growing significantly. “I think between 50 and 60 per cent of them do return, which is the global average. People who go to study abroad mostly find work in international companies. It is important to have a circular migration, that is inflow and outflow of people,” she concludes.
(RTS, 02.12.2021)
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