The Opening of Borders and Scientific Mobility: The Impact of EU Enlargement on the Movement of Early Career Scientists

Abstract

This paper, based on extensive empirical work with Polish and Bulgarian scientists in Germany and the UK, examines the impact of the EU enlargement including the free movement of persons provisions on the mobility of scientists from Eastern to Western Europe. It focuses on early career researchers and particularly PhD candidates and begins by sketching out the status and ensuing free movement rights of those scientists in European Law. It then moves to discuss the policy rationale for promoting scientific mobility and examines how this fits with the scientists' own perspectives. Following on from there the paper looks at various areas where the EU enlargement has had an impact including the continuing transitional agreements, cheaper travel and the question of tuition fees, and goes on to consider the symbolic power of law in influencing scientific mobility.

Acknowledgement

The author is grateful to Professor Louise Ackers, Dr. Liz Oliver and Professor Fiona Cownie for comments on earlier drafts of this paper. I would also like to thank Bryony Gill, Anna Kicinger, Professor Marek Kupiszewski and Dr. Nikolina Sretenova, who contributed significantly to the MOBEX2 project. Any errors or omissions remain my own.

Notes

1. Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus (hereafter AC‐10) joined the EU in May 2004; Bulgaria and Romania joined on 1 January 2007.

2. The Project ‘Mobility and Excellence in the European Research Area’ was co‐funded by the ERSC RES‐151‐25‐00 and the Anglo‐German (1468) Foundation and was directed by Professor Louise Ackers.

3. Article 24 of the Act of Accession refers to the annexes which contain the detailed transitional arrangements for each accession state (Annexes V–XIV). The measures concerning the eight Eastern European states which joined the EU in May 2004 are the same and when referring to measures concerning the AC 8 the term annexes will be used.

4. EU 15 are those countries who were Member States of the EU before the 2004 enlargement and include Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK.

5. Spain, Portugal, Greece and Finland abandoned the transitional arrangements in May 2006. France and the Netherlands intend to lift restrictions gradually in certain sectors.

6. Bulgaria joined the European Union on 1 January 2007.

7. Case C‐209/03 Bidar v London Borough of Ealing and another ECR I‐2119. The case concerned a French national's challenge to the eligibility rules for financial assistance for students in the UK.

8. Andorra, Australia, Canada, Honduras, Island, Israel, Japan, Liechtenstein, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, San Marino, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States.

9. UK03, Polish Post‐doc in the UK. All names have been changed in order to protect the identity of our respondents.

10. UK26, Bulgarian Reader in the UK.

11. D06, Polish Post‐doc in Germany.

12. B04, Bulgarian Senior scientists in Bulgaria.

13. Margarita, D09, Bulgarian Post‐doc in Germany.

14. D16, Bulgarian doctoral candidate in Germany.

15. D03, Polish doctoral candidate in Germany.

16. Available at ⟨http://www.britishcouncil.org/eumobility⟩.

17. Available at ⟨http://www.britishcouncil.org⟩.

18. D17, Polish doctoral candidate in Germany.

19. For example, economic models based on wage differentials predicted a high level of migration from east to west generally once the labour markets open. For an overview of such predictions see Fassmann and Münz, 2002.

20. B09, Bulgarian Professor in Bulgaria.

21. D04, Polish Doctoral Candidate in Germany.

22. D05, Polish Doctoral Candidate in Germany.

23. UK14, Bulgarian Industrial Scientist in the UK.

24. Andrey, UK07, Bulgarian group leader in the UK.

25. UK18, Polish Post‐doc in the UK.

26. Available at ⟨http://www.studis‐online.de/StudInfo/Gebuehren/index.php⟩.

27. Case C‐209/03 Bidar v London Borough of Ealing and another ECR I‐2119.

28. UK09, Polish Mid Career Professional in the UK.