TALNET is about internationalisation of higher education and research in the Baltic Sea region and Eastern Partnership countries. It will focus on tools to attract and support academic talents.
The TALNET project suggests that internationalisation has littles impact on the academic culture in the partner countries and that this a challenge. Over 90 per cent of the students and academics are not influenced by internationalisation and do not take part in the activities. Inclusion is therefore a major challenge. Mobility towards the EU is working, while mobility in the opposite direction is more complicated. Universities in the partner countries are not enough prepared to receive students and researchers from abroad. On the other hand, both Georgia and Ukraine are facing substantial brain drain. Moreover, TALNET suggests that lack of comparability and transparency are challenges that must be dealt with. In view of this, the overall goal of the project is to remove pitfalls that undermine the internationalisation of higher education and research in the partner countries. It strives for seamless international mobility of academics and PhD students.
TALNET will primarily work with tools for attracting, welcoming and integrating academic talents in the university environment. It will also develop a framework for evaluation of the current state of attraction and study the talent environment, comparing practices between countries. Moreover, it will establish a network of university staff involved in the activities and develop an application for further funding from the EU. The starting point will be to establish a common understanding of the phenomenon “academic talent”.