Algeria ends foreign study grants for top bac performers

12/08/2008

In an effort to halt the brain drain in Algeria, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has decided to end scholarships granted to top test-takers. The move has met with mixed reactions from Algerian universities.

By Achira Mammeri for Magharebia in Algiers – 12/08/08

[File] Algerian Education Minister Boubakeur Benbouzid announced a presidential decision that high-scoring exam-takers will not receive scholarships to study abroad.

A change in Algeria's education policy this year will come as bad news to many students; top performers in the 2008 baccalaureate exams will no longer be granted scholarships to study abroad. Education Minister Boubakeur Benbouzid announced the decision just a few days after this year's bac results were published.

The majority of top baccalaureate students who previously received scholarships did not return to Algeria after completing their university studies, Benbouzid said. Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's decision is aimed at keeping Algeria’s brightest youngsters at home and putting an end to a worsening brain drain, he added.

According to figures revealed by Mustapha Khiati, President of Algerian NGO Forem, almost 40,000 Algerian researchers have left the country in ten years. There are over 12,000 Algerian doctors practising abroad, 8,000 of them in France, where a total of 72,000 Algerian graduates took jobs between 1994 and 2006. Philippe Georgeais, France's adviser on cultural co-operation and affairs at the embassy in Algiers, said 20,304 Algerian students are pursuing higher education courses in French universities.

According to statistics released by the Higher Education and Scientific Research Ministry and reported by El Watan, 100 university students receive scholarships each year under agreements signed with a number of countries including China, the USA, France, Italy, the Lebanon, Canada and Egypt.

"No measure, no matter how restrictive, will be able to stop Algerian students and school-leavers going abroad," said academic and political expert Karim Mohsein. He believes Algerian students need encouragement to expand their knowledge. "This doesn't always happen," he said.

Boualam Tatah, a researcher and adviser to the Algerian Parliament, is sceptical: "The brain drain will go on for as long as the Algerian diaspora finds itself unable to prosper at home," he commented, citing the example of the "initiative launched in 2000 to create research labs, which has still not taken off".

Tatah asserts that Algeria has no precise figures on the number of high achievers living abroad, saying: "Many of them prefer to cut off all contact with their homeland so that they can avoid military service."

Algerian students appear to be drawn to the idea of going overseas. Many of them have submitted applications to foreign institutions, especially since the 2005 implementation of the Campus France-Algérie scheme, which has so far received 12,878 applications. This initiative is aimed at simplifying the process for Algerian students wishing to study in French universities.

Sarha from Constantine, a second-year LMD student, is one of them. She hopes to study in Paris. Top of her year, she describes herself as a dedicated student and says she hopes to better herself by travelling overseas.