The effect of emigration of family members on the education of left-behind teenagers and young adults in Albania

In my DPhil, I would like to examine the effect of emigration of household members on education of left-behind teenagers and young adults in a context of high emigration, here Albania, identifying the
different mechanisms at work in this process and evaluating their relative impact. I am applying to be supervised by Nan Dirk de Graaf who is currently supervising me in my MPhil and is looking forward
to continuing doing so in the DPhil. In this proposal, I will introduce the topic, qualifying its relevance both within sociological and migration research and placing it in the context of the social problem of
negative effects of migration. I will also demonstrate how I intend to study this topic and expand on my skills and resources needed to do so.
Overall, emigrants moving from less to more wealthy countries impact the economic and social structure of their country of origin and contribute to sustaining migrant flows through networks
(Levitt & Lamba-Nieves, 2010; Massey et al., 1993). Educational attainment has been shown to be linked to emigration through different channels which I will describe below.
Notwithstanding the demonstrated sociological interest in this effect and its mechanisms, understanding the link between migration and education in sending countries is crucial for policymaking,
whether a country might want to involve its diaspora more effectively in economic development or aim to regulate migration-streams, and for predicting a nation's human capital
resources of the future. An understanding of household decision-making processes in particular is needed to know whom campaigns to refrain from migrating, to direct migration or to gain education
would most effectively be targeted at. In Albania, for example, there are extensive (to date largely unsuccessful) attempts by the government both to involve the diaspora with its skills and financial
resources in Albania and to encourage young adults to stay in the country, aiming especially to avoid a brain drain (Vullnetari, 2013)."