For a long time after the proclamation of independence, Croatia suffered economic stagnation that negatively affected the development of science and higher education. However the turn of the millennium brought higher state investment in science and higher education, and all statistics now show a steady increase in the number of students and scientific personnel for the past several years. With these trends the focus has moved from the role the state can play in reviving science in Croatia to the necessity of greater participation in scientific funding, as well as the role that university graduates can play in the development of the country. The role of European integration and the brain drain phenomenon thus increase in importance, and this study provides some parameters for brain drain and the academic and intellectual labour market in Croatia.