(Strasbourg) – The European Union is on the hunt for foreign “brains”. This is, in a nutshell, the aim of the new rules facilitating entry and stay in the EU, which were voted on by the MEPs in Strasbourg today with a view to making it “easier and more attractive for students and researchers from third countries to study or do research at EU universities”. The rules also improve conditions for non-EU interns, volunteers, school pupils and au pairs, and will have to be transposed into national laws by the 28 Members States within 2 years. The rules merge two existing directives (on students and on researchers) to ensure that students and researchers will have the right to stay in the EU for at least nine months after finishing their studies or research in order to look for a job or set up a business; it will also be easier for them to move within the EU and they will have the right to bring their family members with them. Swedish MEP Cecilia Wikström, rapporteur for the proposal, said: “I am glad that the EU recognizes the value of attracting highly skilled people to come here and to entice them to stay” for their research or business activities. “They will benefit our countries and the EU” as a Whole.