Den Svenske Riksdags notat om tiltag i andre lande for at få akademikere til landdistrikterne

EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR
PARLIAMENTARY RESEARCH
AND DOCUMENTATION
ECPRD REQUEST 2800
FINAL SUMMARY
PREPARED BY
The Research Service of the Swedish Parliament
Date: 7 May 2015
Contact: Ms Linda Helgeby, telephone: +46 8 7864568, E-mail:
linda.helgeby@riksdagen.se
Udvalget for Landdistrikter og Øer 2014-15
ULØ Alm.del Bilag 152
Offentligt
7 May 2015 Our ref. 2015:541
The following questions were sent to seven European countries: Austria,
Denmark, Finland, Germany, Norway, Spain and the United Kingdom.
1. In your country, are there any incentive schemes put in place to motivate
academics to live and work in rural areas? (For example tax reductions, or the
reduction of study loans etc.)
2. If so, please specify what types of incentives. All examples are of interest,
whether they are part of a broader government/regional policy or in the form of
local initiated projects.
3. It would also be of interest to learn whether the incentives have been
successful in keeping academics living and working in rural areas.
The Swedish Research Service has received replies from all seven countries
following the request. Based on the information received, it is evident that most
of the countries in question do not apply any incentives to motivate persons with
an academic education to live and work in rural areas. The Research Service's
counterparts in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Spain, and the United Kingdom
replied that there currently are no incentives to retain academics in rural areas in
these countries. Two of the countries, Norway and Germany, do have different
types of incentives in use aimed at certain professions. These countries have
provided examples of different kinds of incentives, such as cancellation of
student loans, financial contributions and offers of accommodation. From the
responses received, these incentives are aimed at two specific professional
groups, namely teachers and doctors.
The replies from Norway and Germany are described more in detail in the
following. Replies from all contacted countries are available in full at the
ECPRD web site, under the heading Requests/Studies (request no. 2800).
The Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund – Lånekassen – gives financial
support to students. The repayment period is normally 20 years. In some cases
they may cancel parts of the loan. This applies if you live and work in certain
parts of Northern Norway: In the county of Finnmark and in six communities of
the county of Troms. 10 percent of the original loan, maximum Nok 25 000, can
be cancelled. The release of the loan can only take place after you have lived and
worked in the specific region continuously for 12 months.
In the last couple of years, also those working as medical doctors in specific
communities in four different counties, have the opportunity to have a part of
their study loan cancelled. They do not have to live in these specific
communities, the chief county medical officer will decide who has employment
as a doctor in these areas.
Statistics from Lånekassen:
Finnmarksordningen (ie.Northern Norway)
2012: 7 158 persons have their study loans released, total amount NOK
128 900 000.
2002: 6 277 persons have their study loans released, total amount NOK
75 200 000.
Doctors:
2012: 10 persons have their study loans released, total amount NOK 200 000.
In some of the German Laender (federal states), the governments have initiated
campaigns to attract academics to live and work in rural areas.
Due to the diversification of incentive schemes in the sixteen Laender in Germany,
some specific examples of such initiatives in Germany are described in the reply.
Please see below.
 The Free State of Bavaria has initiated a program in 2012 to motivate
doctors to live and work in rural Bavaria. Financial means of 15.5
million Euros were designated for the period 2012 to 2014 to this
program. A general practitioner can receive a financial aid of up to
600.00 Euros in order to establish his/her practice in a municipality of
less than 20.000 inhabitants under this program, if there are not enough
general practitioners in that specific rural area. With this financial aid,
the Free State of Bavaria tries to make sure that a spatially inclusive and
comprehensive medical care is available to all its inhabitants, even in
secluded rural areas.
 A similar initiative has been undertaken in Lower Saxony, where the
government started a program to strengthen regional inclusive medical
cooperation. For the period 2014 to 2017, the government provides some
600.000 Euros annually to promote projects such as:
- Intersectoral supply
- Recruitment (of medical and nursing professionals)
- Health promotion and prevention
- Mobility
- Relief for physicians (e.g. by enabling physicians to delegate issues)
Additionally, the Association of SHI Physicians of Lower Saxony in
cooperation with the Ministry for Social Affairs and the Statutory Health
Insurance has set up a fund, from which practitioners willing to settle in
rural Lower Saxony can receive further financial aids (so called
Niedersachsenfond).
In this context, Lower Saxony launched a campaign to especially attract
young physicians to a settlement in rural areas in January 2015. The
campaign aims at making information to interested physicians easily
accessible, at helping with financial aids and also intends to actively
inform students at local med schools about the career opportunities in rural
Lower Saxony.
 In Brandenburg, politicians are currently discussing how to attract
teachers to certain rural areas. The Minister for education has proposed to
offer monthly extra allowances of 300,00 Euros to teachers, who take a
post that has been vacant for a significant amount of time before. This
proposition is now under examination with regard to how it can be set into
valid legislation.
The examples from Bavaria and Lower Saxony regarding the settlement initiatives
for physicians seem to be successful. In Bavaria, so far 113 individual settlements
of physicians and 11 establishments of subsidiaries of existing practices have taken
place with financial help from the program.
With financial aid from the Niedersachsenfond, eight physicians settled in Lower
Saxony in 2014.