Mobility of Researchers in Western Balkan Region

1. Mobility of Researchers in Western Balkan Region Review of existing Mobility Policy Bosnia and Herzegovina WEB-MOB project HEIS, Bosnia and Herzegovina

2. Foreign Researchers in B&H • Many obstacles prevent foreign researchers from legally working in Bosnia: difficulties to obtain residence permits, work permits, getting foreign academic degrees recognised... • Very hard to bring someone from abroad to work on a project for one year;

3. Legal Requirements • In B&H, each entity and district has its own law related to employment of foreign nationals: • FB&H: “Law on Employment of Foreign Nationals”; • RS: “Law on Employment of Foreign Nationals and Persons without Citizenship”; • Brčko District: “Law on Employment of Foreign Nationals”;

4. Legal Requirements No specific articles on Researchers All three laws state that: • A foreign national can sign a contract with an employer in B&H, only if he/she has a work permit; • The work permit shall be issued only if the foreign national has a temporary or permanent resident permit and under the condition that no citizen of B&H with qualifications required by the employer is registered on the list of Employment Agency (what is actually similar to general employment conditions for B&H citizen in some EU countries, Sweden as example);

5. Legal Requirements • Work permits are issued on a determined period of time, usually one year, with possibility for its extension; • Exceptionally, for foreign nationals with permanent resident permit, the permanent work permit may be issued;

6. Recognition of Academic Degrees • One of the preconditions to get work permit, is recognition of academic degree as an equivalent to the local one (the same rule is in force for B&H citizens that were studying abroad); • Universities in B&H (in charge for the process – there is no state level Agency yet) do not have proper understanding of foreign systems of education, and often the requests for recognition of foreign academic degrees are rejected;

7. Recognition of Academic Degrees • According to the Law, the procedure for recognition of one diploma should not take longer than 60 days; • In practice, this procedure takes much longer since there are no penalty provisions if the procedure is not implemented in the determined period of time; • This procedure takes approximately one year in most cases, and sometimes even more;

8. Employment Optionsat SR Institutions in B&H • In general no vacancies offered to international researchers (citizenship of B&H needed); • Rarely definedexchange programmes for researchers, or for students at universities /faculties - some faculties have bilateral institutional arrangements, usually relating to visiting professors or undergraduate students exchange; • Masters studies often implemented with engagement of foreign professors (mostly from neighbouring countries); • Links to different schools and universities that offer scholarships for undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees;

9. International Cooperation • Almost all universities have some type of International Relations Office, which is in charge of arranging cooperation with other scientific institutions; • Most of the work in these offices is related to finding universities/faculties in other countries, that offer scholarship possibilities for Bosnian students or possibilities to attend different seminars and trainings - low interest for attracting foreign researchers;

10. International Cooperation • Some of the research institutions are involved in international projects (e.g. EU FP6 programme), but this cooperation is usuallylimited to joint meetings where project results are discussed or exchange on short-term basis; • Sarajevo, September 14/17, I Congress of B&H researchers working abroad, organised by Ministry of Science and Education of Canton Sarajevo (more then 270 registered, some local);

11. State Authority in Charge of International Cooperation • Ministry responsible for Science and education does not exist on the state level (entities’ competency), agreed to be established (probably after the October elections); • Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina has Department of Scientific, Technical, Educational, Cultural and Sports Cooperation (previously Institute for Scientific, Technical, Educational, Cultural and Sports Cooperation of B&H);

12. State Authority in Charge of International Cooperation • One of the tasks of this Department is cooperation related to: “international, scientific and research projects in the areas of science, technology, education and culture”, however, not one of these projects is mentioned at the site; • Site contains numerous foreign scholarships for studying abroad (India, Germany, Japan, Egypt, Italy, Slovakia, Greece, Pakistan, Malaysia, New Zeeland, Sweden, South Korea, Russia, Turkey, Qatar, Suisse, UK, Israel, Netherlands, China, all only in local languages, Latin and Cyrillic), but not one for foreign researchers to study in B&H;

13. Conclusions • Low interest for attraction of foreign researchers (exc. With B&H origins eventually); • Some level of support for outgoing mobility for B&H researchers; • B&HSR institutions are not offering specific projects or exchange programmes at which foreign nationals could work.

14. Recommendations • New ideas from short- and medium-term exchange of researchers; • Jobs posting (WEB-MOB portal?); • State level institution for international scientific, technical and educational cooperation; • Harmonization of higher education; • Agency for recognition of diplomas.