An educational project funded mainly by billionaire financier Mr George Soros is seeking to recruit Irish lecturers to fill positions at universities in central and eastern Europe and even some teaching posts in Siberia.
Mr Soros, one of the world's most generous philanthropists, has constantly emphasised that education is the key to revitalising his native eastern Europe. Apart from his funding, several companies have contributed to the project.
The organisers hope Irish academics will help raise the level of education in eastern Europe, which has suffered a "brain drain" since the fall of communism in 1989. The Civic Education Project (CEP) is currently visiting most of the main colleges looking for academics to fill vacancies in economics, law, philosophy, psychology, sociology, history, public administration, journalism and other disciplines in 100 universities in the region.
Staff at the Irish colleges have been told this is a "unique opportunity to mould the next generation in eastern Europe".
According to CEP, Irish lecturers would be the perfect candidates to fill the positions because they are English-speaking and understand the changes taking place in eastern Europe.
Ms Donna Culpepper, president of CEP, said since visiting Trinity College and the Dublin Institute of Technology she had already received "several expressions of interest". Ms Culpepper is still planning visits to UCC and NUI Galway.
Countries where positions are available include: Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Georgia, Ukraine, Romania, Kazakhstan and from next year Mongolia.
Lecturers who decide to participate in the CEP project will be given a "modest" monthly salary (paid in local currency), transportation, local housing, language instruction and health insurance.
The CEP organisers hope the lecturers might bring with them books, journals and articles which could be donated to the university library. They may also make funding available for "collaborative or individual academic projects" undertaken by the visiting lecturers.
Ms Culpepper said the region was badly in need of individuals who could pass on academic skills to the next generation. "A lot of the universities in the region have been traditionally controlled by the party system, so we need people who are going to bring an independent academic spirit to the universities, and Ireland is a great source of the right kind of people."
Details of the vacancies are available at www.cep.org.hu