Since the establishment of World University Service - Austrian Committee (WUS Austria) as a non-governmental organisation committed to academic freedom and the right to education in Graz in 1983, it has been working on the promotion of higher education in various countries. Since 1994 WUS Austria has developed a regional focus on South Eastern Europe (SEE) and has set up local offices in Belgrade, Podgorica, Prishtina and Sarajevo. WUS Austria established its Belgrade Office in September 2001, and since then has been offering a variety of projects to the Serbian academic community. One of the offered programmes is the Brain Gain Program Plus (BGP+). Financed by the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) it targets to emigrated academics and enables them to come back to their country of origin, and give short-term lectures at state universities. In order to further the cooperation between Austrian institutions and the universities in Serbia, regardless of their citizenship Austrian guest lecturers who are employed in Austria are eligible for the BGP.
Whereas in the period 2002-2007, BGP included only guest lecturers, it has now been upgraded to BGP+ and consists of the following two components:
a) BGP+ Classic:
Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) is providing funding through WUS Austria to enable Serbian universities to invite qualified academics originating from the region, to lecture courses which are not available at the faculties. Additionally, courses by Austrian guest lecturers can be funded. The supported period of stay should be between 1 and 3 weeks, with at least 15 teaching hours per week.
b) BGP+ with extended period of stay:
Where needed by the university, teachers have the possibility to stay for the whole semester, but in that case they are obliged to take over mentoring. Within this BGP+ type, two different possibilities are offered:
- Teaching and Mentoring: Guest lecturers take over "full teaching workload" (at least 15 teaching hours per week), as well as mentoring, i.e. supervising final theses.
- Teaching, Mentoring and/or Research: This component is aimed at supporting research work at the universities. Guest researchers can be invited to take over half of the teaching workload (at least 5 teaching hours per week), conduct research and supervise final theses (bachelor's, master's or PhD's). By doing this, they will not only transfer their knowledge, but also state-of-the- art research techniques.
No matter which one of those two options is chosen, lecturer's costs are covered up to a certain amount. WUS Austria reimburses travel costs up to 800 E, and pays out 500 E of weekly allowance within BGP+ Classic, or 1000 E monthly allowance if BGP+ with extended period of stay is chosen. The hosting university/faculty is responsible for the accommodation.
The Brain Gain Program call for applications is open until September 2010! For additional information regarding application procedure, selection procedure and money transfer effectuation please visit www.wus-austria. org or call WUS Austria Belgrade Office ++381 11 361 96 23 or 361 96 80.
Best regards,
WUS Austria Belgrade Office
World University Service Austria
A: Deligradska 22, 11 000 Belgrade
P: +381 11 361 96 23
P: +381 11 361 96 80
F: +381 11 265 63 18
E: belgrade@wus- austria.org
Please quote 10 Academic Resources Daily in your application to this opportunity!
