Saturday, May 04, 2024
Charles Whiteley, ambassador and head of Delegation of the European Union to Bangladesh, said they have been providing scholarships to the Bangladeshi students from a very diverse range of backgrounds.
Bangladesh will become number one in terms of getting scholarships from the European Union from next year.
He added, “We had over 200 Bangladeshi students from a very diverse range of backgrounds. I meet them every year before they head off to Europe and we have a very good master’s programme that provides full scholarships.
“Two hundred does not sound a lot but actually, it is the third largest number in the world after India and Pakistan. So my goal has been to make Bangladesh number one, and I hope next year we will get there.”
The ambassador made the comments while speaking with The Business Post and Amader Shomoy Journalists at the newspapers’ conference room on Monday.
He pointed out, “You know, living expenses, transportation, all of those sorts of things. So I see them before they go and I see them when they get back. And it is always a very good conversation.
“And of course some are from relatively well-off families, but there are some from less well-off families.”
Whiteley added, “The more we can do for those who cannot afford to go to Europe, the better because we want to encourage talent. As I said earlier, we want to encourage this flow of academics and so on.
“So it is a point well taken. But I think it's vital that children from or students from less privileged backgrounds get a chance to go to Europe as well. So I hope that we can do more on that front.”
Asked about migration to Europe, he said, “We just had our latest meeting with the government in March. We are developing a roadmap. What we have to do, of course, is quite complicated.
“With 27 countries in Europe, we have 24 official languages. In the UN, they manage with six, I think. So there is the language issue, of course. So to send people to Europe, they have to be prepared properly and we also have to identify sectors of the economy where there's a good fit, whether that's care workers or agricultural workers or more academic jobs. And that's exactly what we're mapping now with our member states.”
Whiteley added, “You have seen there have been some bilateral agreements. Greece, Romania and others have signed bilateral agreements. But we want to make this an EU endeavour. And so we have also a project coming on stream with ILO to help develop this talent partnership.
“The key is, as I said, we need some language training to be brought in and to prepare students well or prepare skilled people well. And the key is also that we don't encourage a brain drain. So we don't come to steal your nurses. When you pay to educate your nurses, we come to borrow them. You know, it's borrowing, not stealing. They go to Europe, they will work, their sector in Europe for four or five years. But then on the understanding, the very clear understanding, they come back because you made a very important point.”
He continued, “Now, Bangladeshis are one of the highest numbers of illegal migrants to Europe. And we all know how dangerous it is, you know, going via Benghazi or Libya and so on to get to Europe.
“The deaths that happen in the Mediterranean have been reduced significantly, partly because of the EU naval operations, but it is still there and it's risky, dangerous, and costly. I think the average cost is €11,000 that they pay to the traffickers.”
We need to do more to stop the illegal pathways whilst developing the legal pathways. Those two go together in our mind, Whiteley said.
