Mobility of highly qualified portuguese professionals to Europe

Abstract

Skilled emigration has been analyzed according to two contrasting models: a) the model of the exodus that stresses the idea that more skilled individuals are forced to the exile, allowing them to get a job and a remuneration corresponding to their training; b) the model of the Diaspora that stresses the mutual benefits of intercultural exchanges opened by the circulation of academic, scientific and cultural cosmopolitan elites. This research aims to test the comprehensive power of each of these theses referencing to the various types of mobility of highly qualified Portuguese professionals to Europe in the last decade. The research strategy is suitable to the characteristics of an exploratory study. Articulating an extensive research with an in-depth analysis we seek to identify the subjectivity of the direct actors of emigration in some of its main working contexts. We use a mixed strategy which makes use of multilateral technical quantitative and qualitative data collection: questionnaire surveys; life stories and interviews with focus groups that will draft the life trajectories. Using a multiple case methodology we will describe and compare the circumstances, the modalities and the characteristics of the mobility of two types of migration of high skilled Portuguese individuals in Europe.