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Brain Drain or Brain Circulation? (Autumn 08)

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Mobility of the highly skilled

There are frequent UK news stories focusing on the “brain drain” and the loss to the labour market and the UK economy that the departure of graduates, especially those with scientific and technical skills, represents. The issue is cast in terms of something that needs to be prevented. However, a recent report from the OECD on the international mobility of human resources in science and technology suggests an alternative point of view. In fact, the report argues that mobile talent contributes to the creation and diffusion of knowledge in these fields and that this can boost global innovation and performance, with benefits to both sending and receiving countries. The OECD report underlines that emigration need not be perceived as a zero-sum game but that it is more complex than that. Skilled migrants may return with developed skills and new networks or they may work abroad and still enable a flow of knowledge and information back to the home country. This is what they term “brain circulation”. The 2008 report, The Global Competition for Talent: Mobility of the Highly Skilled”, follows on from an earlier OECD report from 2002 entitled “International Migration of the Highly Skilled”.

In order to properly evaluate the “brain drain” versus “brain circulation” scenario, there is a need for better data. There is a lack of quantitative data relating to international students and their destinations as well as data on the mobility patterns of the highly skilled.

The executive summary can be accessed for free and the full report entitled “The Global Competition for Talent: Mobility of the Highly Skilled” purchased at: http://www.oecd.org/document/21/0,3343,en_2649_33703_41361685_1_1_1_1,00.html