President Čaputová met Slovak students at Scottish universities at the end of her trip in Edinburg on Wednesday 3 November 2021. 

They discussed how their lives look, what they do, what brings them joy and on the contrary, what bothers them. "Our students in Scotland are creating a very good reputation of Slovakia. But their responses to the question of whether they plan to return home was not very positive. Most of them are considering staying abroad and only a smaller group are thinking about coming back.”   

According to the president, the salary and employment benefits that Scotland offers are not the only reasons.  Many of them also mentioned intolerance, the influence of disinformation and the fragile political situation in Slovakia. “The overall atmosphere in Slovakia is not at all attractive for them to give up the living conditions that foreign countries offer. We have been aware of this fact for a long time, but we have yet to find an effective method of changing it. Bringing a halt to divisiveness and calming the passions so that such talented people, whom we need so badly, would want to return home is a challenge for the entire society.”