Saidy Eliana Arias, a young Colombian with a doctorate in Nursing, expressed her disappointment on social networks after returning to the country and finding great difficulties in accessing job opportunities and receiving good remuneration.
Arias, who studied his doctorate at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, located in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, assured that he wanted to return to Colombia with the aim of contributing to the country “what he learned abroad” and dedicating himself to research and teaching; However, in the last four years, he has had bad experiences.
“Since my return to Colombia, after finishing my doctorate, I bet on my country. I genuinely believed that it was possible to dedicate myself to research and teaching to contribute from what I learned outside. But these four years have been one disappointment after another,” he expressed on the X network, where his testimony went viral.
Since my return to Colombia, after finishing my doctorate, I bet on my country. I genuinely believed that it was possible to dedicate myself to research and teaching to contribute from what I learned outside. But these four years have been one disappointment after another.
— Saidy Eliana Arias (@sai_eli) October 14, 2024
According to the woman, the Colombian industry and academia are not yet prepared to link people with PhDs. Furthermore, he stated that universities do not pay “fairly” and there are not sufficient conditions to carry out research.
“In Colombia, industry and academia are not prepared to link doctors. For some universities, The hiring of doctors is considered to meet accreditation requirements. They are not paid fairly, much less are they given enough time to investigate,” he said.
Likewise, he stated that seeking funds to finance research projects has been very complex due to the reduction in the budget allocated to science in Colombia. Despite these conditions, he expressed his surprise at the dizzying growth of the doctoral program in the country.
“Raising funds to finance projects is a titanic task, even more so with the reduction of the budget invested in science. The paradox is that the creation of doctoral programs in the country and postdoctoral programs are increasingly increasing, which, by the way, in some cases, are paid for by the doctors themselves. It is a constant dynamic of ‘swimming against the current’, which shows how difficult it is to do science in Colombia and, consequently, the high probability that those who returned will leave again,” he stressed.
Finally, Arias pointed out that, given this panorama, it is better to investigate topics that contribute to Colombia from abroad.
“I think it is difficult to give up on the idea of continuing to investigate and work on issues that contribute to the country, but this task can be continued better from outside,” he said.
