The European Commission (EC) has set out a range of measures intended to improve the career structure for researchers in Europe. One main aim is to stop the EU brain drain. In its press release, the commission emphasized the need to "prevent Europe's best scientists abandoning their careers in Europe in favour of more lucrative opportunities in the US and elsewhere."
The researcher brain drain is one of the EC's key concerns. It was highlighted in the European Report on Science and Technology Indicators 2003. This document addressed the central problem that 75% of researchers who spend time working in the United States choose to remain there rather than returning home.
Steps now proposed by the commission include developing: a "European Researcher's Charter"; a "code of conduct for the recruitment of researchers"; a common way of evaluating and recording researchers' skills, qualifications, and achievements; advanced training tools; access to adequate ...
