The text by Lab2PT/IN2PAST researcher and professor at the History Department of the University of Minho, Mário Farelo, was published online in Jornal Observador on May 29, 2025.

This article puts into perspective the current issue of the exodus of scientists and researchers from the United States of America to Europe and other countries, since academic mobility and study trips were already common among elites and academics in the past. Taking a journey back to the Middle Ages, the professor analyzes the path of transmission and circulation of knowledge in Portugal and Europe, and how seeking training and attending courses at foreign universities was a common practice and an opportunity, as it is now, for personal and scientific enrichment, political and social advancement, and strengthening of position and economic power.

As he states in his article: “In fact, both then and now, studying abroad is one of the few truly operational ‘social elevators’. In this regard, as in other aspects, we are not so far removed from a medieval period that, in certain mainstream media and cultural circles, continues to be unfairly described in a pejorative way.”

 

This text is part of the Portugal 900 Years series, a weekly collaboration by the Historical Society of the Independence of Portugal.

 

Access the article: https://observador.pt/opiniao/houve-uma-fuga-de-cerebros-em-portugal-na-idade-media/