Return to Portugal of motivated emigrants virtual forum – News
“This topic arises because, in conversation between the associations, we see that there is a part of the Portuguese graduates outside Portugal who want to return, but are not aware of the existing programs of the Government, or of the new programs that are taking place that can be interesting for science or technology, or even other areas”, explained to Lusa Virgínia Andrade, president of Agrafr, the Association of Portuguese Graduates in France.
The 2022 edition of the GraPE Forum will be ‘online’, and there will be two roundtable sessions. The first part is dedicated to the return to Portugal and the second to the challenges of preparing for a potential return.
“We have about 30-40% of subscribers who propose the possibility of returning. This means that more than half do not want to. We want to understand why they do not want to return, if it has to do with the country in which they live, or if it has to do with the conditions that Portugal offers”, highlighted the leader of Agrafr, which has around four hundred members.
“We wanted to have people talk about why they returned, how they decided (…) and also, now in Portugal, how they find themselves. If they like the situation they are in, if they are happy, if they encountered difficulties in adapted,” he said.
The opening session will be in charge of Elvira Fortunato, Minister of Science and Technology and will have, among the speakers, Ana Mafalda Dourado Santos, from the National Innovation Agency, or José Albano Marques, executive director of the Contact Point for the Return of Emigrant — Return Program.
The Secretary of State for Portuguese Communities, Paulo Cafôfo, will speak at the closing of the event.
“The objective of the forum will also be to carry out a survey, and distribute it among graduates outside of Portugal to understand their desire to return, what are the reasons, so that we can carry out a small demographic study”, said Virgínia Andrade, from one of the associations organized from the GraPE Forum.
“After the event, we will carry out this survey and try to publish it, so that it becomes a tool that allows, in Portugal, people to understand the measures they can take if they want to attract more graduates to return”, he underlined.
The GraPE Forum was born in 2012, on the initiative of PAPS (Portuguese American Postgraduate Society) and Parsuk (Portuguese Association of Students and Researchers in the United Kingdom), which were joined by the Association of Portuguese Graduates in France, Asppa ( Association of Portuguese Graduates in Germany), APEI-Benelux (Portuguese Association of Students and Researchers in Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg), Agraps (Association of Portuguese Graduates in Switzerland) and Spot Nordic (Association of Portuguese Graduates in the Nordic countries).
The Forum, which takes place on December 27, also aims to discuss the profile of Portuguese graduates who are abroad and would like to return, what measures are necessary to encourage Portuguese graduates to return, and how Portuguese graduates abroad can contribute for the development of Portuguese society.
JYD // LFS
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