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1、ISSUES AND OPTIONS FOR ENHANCING THE INTERNATIONAL MOBILITY OF RESEARCHERS by Graeme Hugo Federation Fellow Professor of Geography and Director of the National Centre for Social Applications of GIS The University of Adelaide Part of this paper was presented to the OECD Committee for Scientific and T
2、echnological Policy (CSTP) and Steering and Funding of Research Institutions (SFRI) Workshop on The International Mobility of Researchers, IEA Paris, 28 March 2007 April 2008 INTRODUCTION Researchers have long been a very mobile group, working within international labour markets and having strongly
3、developed international networks. However, the international mobility of researchers has reached unprecedented levels in the contemporary world due to two developments. Firstly with the emergence of knowledge-based economies there has been recognition that the key to national prosperity is maximisin
4、g the national stock of human capital, particularly the brainpower which provides innovation and major breakthroughs in advancing knowledge. This has led to an unprecedented global quest for talent (Kuptsch and Fong 2006) in which scientists and researchers are among the most eagerly sought after. S
5、econdly, the reduction in the friction of distance and cost on travel and international flows of people, information, money and goods has made increased migration between nations more possible than ever before. In the European context Morano-Foadi (2005, 134) has argued: For many, mobility is not so
6、 much a choice as a necessity in science careers either due to the lack of employment opportunities or because progression demands acceptance of mobility by researchers. Hence while much attention is focused on a flow of talented researchers from south to north nations, in fact there is heavy intera
7、ction between OECD nations. The dominant discourse regarding this migration in the past has been the so-called brain drain phenomenon whereby development in origin countries is constrained by the loss of human capital so that the gap between developed and developing nations widens. This model presum
8、es the emigration of researchers and other skilled workers and involves a definitive, permanent relocation and total loss of the brainpower of the emigrant researchers for the origin country. However, there has been a paradigm shift in global international migration thinking from one in which perman
9、ent relocation of migrants has been replaced as the dominant form of migration to transnationalism. The latter suggests that in the contemporary world while permanent migration occurs it is the two-way movements and circulation between origin and destination and the linkages developed and maintained
10、 by movers with their origins which are the defining features (Faist 2000; Levitt 2001). It is argued here that this transnational migration of researchers provides potential for both origin and destination to benefit from the new mobility of researchers. This paper explores the range of issues whic
11、h arise from this new movement as well as the opportunities which arise from the mobility of researchers with specific reference to Australia. The paper begins with a brief discussion of the contemporary trends in global migration which impinge on researcher mobility. All nations experience both an
12、inflow and outflow of researchers and there are a number of issues relating to both inflows and outflows. The ease of international travel and exponential improvements in information and communication technology have made it possible for researchers to maintain close, strong, immediate and intimate
13、contacts with their origin countries to an extent that has never before been possible. Expatriate researchers can contribute to their home countries not only by eventually returning to their homeland but also while they are still living abroad. This is achieved both through regular return visits but
14、 especially by continuous virtual return migration via modern information and community technology. The final section of the paper discusses some of the policy interventions which can be initiated by governments to enhance the advantages which they can gain from researcher mobility. In the global co
15、ntext of massively increased mobility of researchers there are increasing challenges to governments to achieve the right balance between training researchers, recruitment of researchers from foreign countries and retention of Australian researchers tempted to move to a foreign country (Wood 2004, vi
16、ii). However, it is argued here that there is another dimension to add to this mix to what extent can governments capitalise on the human capital of native researchers they have lost to foreign countries by drawing on their social capital to remain engaged with their home country? THE NEW GLOBAL MIG
17、RATION There are a number of features of contemporary international migration systems which are of particular salience when considering the mobility of researchers. There has undoubtedly been an increase in the scale, complexity and diversity of migration. Whereas for much of the postwar period only
18、 a minority of nations were influenced in a major way by international migration, it is now an important process in almost all nations (United Nations 2006a). In particular the movement from less developed to more developed nations has increased. Figure 1 shows the distribution of the countries of b
19、irth of the 58 million persons residing in OECD nations in 2000 who had been born in non-OECD nations. The dispersed pattern across Africa, Asia and South America is clearly in evidence. At the 2000 round of censuses there were around 65 million migrants from south countries in north countries (Unit
20、ed Nations Figure 1:Persons Born in South Nations Enumerated in OECD Nations at the 2000 Round of Censuses Source:OECD data base on immigrants and expatriates 2006b). However, this significantly underestimates the amount of south-north movement because, as was mentioned in the previous section, ther
21、e has been a shift away from a dominance of permanent migration in the system and a tremendous increase in temporary movements of one kind or another. The increase in mobility has embraced a wide range of groups. The previous predominance of males has given way to a more or less equal balance of mal
22、es and females. While the new migration has involved large numbers of unskilled and skilled migrants, Castles and Miller (1998) point to an increasing bifurcation in global migration patterns. On the one hand the mobility of skilled migrants has been facilitated by nations allowing them to enter rea
23、dily while on the other unskilled migrants are increasingly confronted by barriers erected by potential destination nations. Accordingly, the migration is particularly selective of highly Figure 2:Immigrant and Emigrant Population Aged 15+ with Tertiary Education in OECD Countries Source:Dumont and
24、Lemaitre 2005 skilled persons, especially that from south to north nations. Dumont and Lemaitre (2005, 17) demonstrated that for all south nations, emigration to OECD nations was highly selective of the highly skilled. Some 88 percent of immigrants from less developed countries in OECD nations have
25、secondary or higher levels of education. Figure 2 shows the number of highly skilled immigrants in each OECD nation in 2002 and indicates that the numbers are greatest in the US, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, France and Germany. The diagram also shows that there is a significant skilled emigrati
26、on out of these nations as well so that the net migration is smaller than the gross volume of movement, especially in some countries like the United Kingdom. One area of concern in brain drain migration relates to the increasing numbers of students from less developed countries who migrate to OECD n
27、ations to study but who subsequently remain in those countries after graduation (Tremblay 2004). Figure 3 shows the Figure 3:International Mobile Students by Region of Study, 1975-2004 Source:UNESCO 2006, 34 increasing scale of international student mobility and the dominance of OECD nations as dest
28、inations, although south-south student migration is increasing. It is estimated that around 2 percent of the worlds 100 million university students are enrolled outside their country of birth and citizenship. Most of the latter are south-north migrants with the largest origins being India and China
29、(Migration News, April 2005). The United States remains the pre-eminent destination with 586,000 foreign university students in 2002 although its dominance may be eroding due to increasingly aggressive marketing of international education as an export industry by other countries, especially the Engl
30、ish speaking nations like the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (Migration News, January 2005). Figure 4 shows the large proportions of PhD students in OECD nations which are now made up of foreign, especially south-origin students. South-north student migration is potentially a cont
31、ributor to the development effort at home because many students are able to work at their destination and remit money home, through knowledge transfer and the enhancement of national human resources when they return after completing their studies. In reality, however, it often has become a net loss
32、to development in origin countries. On the one hand there is a significant south-north flow of money for fees and living costs with the total paid to host nations each year by foreign students being US$30 billion (Migration News, April 2005). On the other there is a growing nexus between south- nort
33、h student migration and permanent settlement in north countries. Many student migrants see their movement as the first stage to settlement while several OECD nations have immigration regulations which favour recruitment of these students as they are seen as ideal migrants, having qualifications reco
34、gnised at the destination and first-hand experience of the destination country labour and housing markets and living situations. Moreover, the host nation often hasnt paid for their training. The growing linkages between student migration and permanent settlement is a major component in the increasi
35、ng incidence of south-north skilled migration. Figure 4:Foreign PhD Students as a Percentage of Total Enrolment, 2000 Source:Trewin 2004, 71 Until recently the predominant discourse on south-north migration has been of the high degree of selectivity of that migration which has drained poor nations o
36、f their most talented residents and hence exacerbated the constraints which low levels of human capital have imposed on development in those countries. It has been only in recent years that there has been a counter view stressing some of the positive impacts of migration on origin areas. Positive vi
37、ews (World Bank 2006; United Nations 2006b; Global Commission on International Migration 2005) of the impact of international migration upon development have been driven by a new appreciation of the scale and impact of remittances. Diaspora-led development in origin nations incorporates a much wider
38、 range of impacts than remittances but there is little doubt that in development organisations like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, remittances are the centre of attention (Terry and Wilson 2005). Much of the migration and development discourse focuses on the scale and impact of remit
39、tances. However, there has been realisation that the developmental effects of migration are more complex. The networks which are often set up by migrants between their destination and origin countries can be conduits for more than remittances and the developmental implications of these other flows n
40、eed to be considered. As Lucas (2001, i) points out there is a growing recognition that a highly skilled diaspora may play several important roles in promoting development at home. This is achieved through the diaspora promoting Foreign Direct Investment, acting as bridgeheads for export of home pro
41、duced goods, acting as a conduit for knowledge transfer or through their return migration. A recent analysis (Ioannidis 2004) analysed the countries of birth of 1,523 highly cited scientists. Almost a third (31.9 percent) resided in a nation other than that of their birth. Migration was more promine
42、nt among some research fields (e.g. mathematics, computer science, economics/business and physics) than others (social sciences, immunology and clinical medicine). Three quarters of the migrants had immigrated to the United States and foreigners accounted for a third of cited researchers in the USA,
43、 Australia, Switzerland, Israel, France and the Netherlands but almost two thirds in Canada. Foreign scientists were uncommon in Japan, Italy, Sweden, Denmark and the rest of the world. On the other hand only 2 percent of US-born cited scientists resided outside the USA. Rates were high for China (1
44、00 percent), Taiwan (90 percent), India (84 percent) and the rest of the non-European world (86 percent). This is the context in which the contemporary international migration of researchers needs to be considered. We will now consider some of the policies which countries can consider to enhance the
45、 benefits they can receive from the mobility of researchers. POLICIES FOR ENHANCING BENEFITS FROM RESEARCHER MOBILITY The enhanced mobility of researchers presents challenges to national policy makers. On the one hand there is general recognition that high levels of mobility can be beneficial becaus
46、e they facilitate knowledge exchange and advancement, contribute to the advancement of understanding and stimulate innovation (OECD 2007, 29) in addition to enhancing the human capital of destination areas. On the other, are concerns of the loss of human capital through emigration although there als
47、o may be possibilities of origin countries benefiting through return migration or maintenance of active research based networks with expatriate researchers. There have been a range of policies and programs advanced by countries as they seek to maximise national benefits accruing from researcher mobi
48、lity. These policies can be divided into the following categories. Those which facilitate the international mobility of nationals to gain the benefits of interaction with international colleagues. A range of immigration policies which attract the permanent and temporary in- movement of foreign resea
49、rchers Return migration programs which encourage expatriate researchers to return to their home country after a period in a foreign country. Diaspora-based policies which aim to capture some of the human capital of expatriate researchers who are domiciled in foreign countries. Of course there are also retention policies which seek to discourage international mobility by keeping some of the best national researchers at home. We will now consider ea