40% of Slovaks studying at foreign universities stay abroad

The share of Slovaks studying at foreign universities, especially in the Czech Republic, is growing each year, a development that may result into a brain drain from Slovakia, Miloslav Bahna and Oľga Gyarfášova from the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAV) have stated. According to their survey, 15 percent of Slovak university students were studying abroad in 2012. From among OECD countries, only Liechtenstein and Iceland have a higher share of their students studying abroad; 70 percent and 19 percent, respectively. Development in Slovakia has been boosted significantly by an agreement between the two countries' education ministries signed in 2002 between the Czech Republic and Slovakia aimed at providing university study free of charge. Apart from the Czech Republic, Slovak students are also significantly interested in studying in Britain, Austria, Germany, Hungary and the USA. Meanwhile as many as 40 percent of those who study abroad, remain in the respective country after graduation. Nevertheless, 50 percent of those who studied abroad return to Slovakia within two or more years. Most of the students studying at foreign universities gained their first experience with foreign study at bilingual high schools. This phenomenon also mostly concerns students with both parents having university education.