Poor conditions blamed for Venezuelan scientist exodus [View all]

[Bacchus4.0]

http://www.scidev.net/global/education/news/poor-conditions-blamed-for-venezuelan-scientist-exodus.html



Government-funded universities in Venezuela are witnessing a flight of scientists and professors, leaving them unable to fill posts, according to recent reports.

At Simón Bolívar University, around 240 professors have quit over the past five years — an unusually high number, says Rafael Álvarez, a representative of the university’s Association of Professors.

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The Central University of Venezuela has lost around 700 faculty members between 2011 and 2012, according to its Association of Professors.

About 400 of those who left were considered to be the next generation of professors and researchers, says Víctor Márquez, president of the Association of Professors of the Central University of Venezuela. And around 500 of them said they were leaving because of economic conditions, he adds.
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De la Vega says the brain drain is due to high crime rates, a lack of funding for universities and low salaries.