II Perspectives of the International Organizations and of Industry

Developing Countries and the Global Knowledge Economy: New Challenges for Tertiary Education

by Jamil Salmi, Coordinator of the World Bank’s network of tertiary education professionals

Abstract

Developing countries face significant new challenges in the global environment, affecting not only the shape and mode of operation but also the purpose of their tertiary education system. Among the most critical dimensions of change are the convergent impacts of globalization, the increasing importance of knowledge as a main driver of growth, and the information and communication revolution.

Both opportunities and threats are arising out of these new challenges. On the positive side, the role of tertiary education in the construction of knowledge economies and democratic societies is now more influential than ever. Tertiary education is central to the creation of the intellectual capacity on which knowledge production and utilization depend and to the promotion of lifelong learning practices. Another favorable development is the emergence of new types of tertiary institutions and new forms of competition, inducing traditional institutions to change their modes of operation and delivery and take advantage of opportunities offered by the new information and communication technologies. But this technological transformation carries also the danger of a growing digital divide among and within nations.

At the same time, most developing and transition countries continue to wrestle with difficulties produced by inadequate responses to long standing challenges faced by their tertiary education system. Among these unresolved challenges are the sustainable expansion of tertiary education coverage, the reduction of inequalities of access and outcomes, the improvement of educational quality and relevance, and the introduction of more effective governance structures and management practices.

In this context, the presentation will focus on the role of tertiary education in building up the capacity of developing countries to participate in the global knowledge economy client countries.

Coordinator of the World Bank’s Tertiary Education Thematic Group. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors and should not be attributed in any manner to the World Bank, the members of its Board of Executive Directors or the countries they represent.

Introduction

Welcome to the university of the future. All visitors will be greeted by a robot receptionist. Incoming students will receive a free ipod, a Blackberry, a laptop and a bicycle. Students in need of financial aid will compete for scholarships auctioned online on Ebay. In the university of the future, each student will have an individualized program to suit his / her specific career plans or study interests. Courses will be systematically redesigned every two years. The validity of degrees will be only five years. Most students will enroll at the same time in at least two or three tertiary education institutions to get credits towards their degree. Most courses will be online, through dynamic interaction with web-based cognitive tutors based on artificial intelligence. In the university of the future, there will be no physical library or laboratories, only e-libraries and i-labs. Daily communications from the university administration will be transmitted through SMS sent directly to the students’ cellular phones. Students who graduate on time will get a $500 cash reward, whereas graduates who don’t find a suitable job within six months of graduating will be reimbursed the full cost of their studies. To stimulate institutional responsiveness and relevance, the university president will tax each department at the beginning of the academic period and award the most innovative department a one million dollar prize at the end of the period. Professors will receive a bonus based on the labor market outcomes of their students. Overall, the university will receive only 10 per cent of its income from the government. The most sought after program will not be the MBA anymore, but the Master in Fine Arts recognized for creativity skills imparted to future industry leaders.

While this description of the university of the future may seem like an improbable science fiction dream to some, or a terrifying nightmare to others, each element mentioned above can actually be found in some form among today’s universities. These futuristic features are symbolic of the rapid transformation affecting tertiary education in the industrial world. In the past few years, many countries have witnessed significant transformations and reforms in their tertiary education systems, including the emergence of new types of institutions, changes in patterns of financing and governance, the establishment of evaluation and accreditation mechanisms, curriculum reforms, and technological innovations.

But the tertiary education landscape is not changing at this impressive speed everywhere. Most developing countries continue to wrestle with difficulties produced by inadequate responses to long standing challenges. Among these unresolved challenges are the sustainable expansion of tertiary education coverage, the reduction of inequalities of access and outcomes, the improvement of educational quality and relevance, and the introduction of more effective governance structures and management practices.

And yet, having strong and dynamic tertiary education institutions has never been as essential for developing countries faced with the need to accelerate economic growth and reduce poverty. In this context, the paper focuses on the capacity building role of tertiary education. It starts by recognizing the importance of knowledge for developing countries in the pursuit of better economic and social outcomes. It then outlines the changing education and training needs arising from increased reliance on knowledge. The third section describes the rapidly evolving tertiary education landscape. In the final section, the paper examines the opportunities and challenges brought about by these new developments.

Growing importance of knowledge for developing countries

Economic development is increasingly linked to a nation's ability to acquire and apply technical and socio-economic knowledge, and the process of globalization is accelerating this trend. Comparative advantages come less and less from abundant natural resources or cheaper labor, and more and more from technical innovations and the competitive use of knowledge. Today, economic growth is as much a process of knowledge accumulation as of capital accumulation. It is estimated, for instance, that firms devote one-third of their investment to knowledge-based intangibles such as training, research and development, patents, licensing, design and marketing. In this context, economies of scope, derived from the ability to design and offer different products and services with the same technology, are becoming a powerful factor of expansion. In high-technology industries like electronics and telecommunications, economies of scope can be more of a driving force than traditional economies of scale.¹

At the same time, there is a rapid acceleration in the rhythm of creation and dissemination of knowledge, which means that the life span of technologies and products gets progressively shorter and that obsolescence comes more quickly. In chemistry, for instance, there were 360,000 known substances in 1978.

This number had doubled by 1988. By 1998, there were three times as many known substances (1,700,000). Almost 150,000 new “patent equivalents” are added to the Chemical Abstracts data base every year, compared to less than 10,000 a year in the late 1960s.

In addition to stimulating economic growth through increased productivity resulting from innovation, knowledge contributes to poverty reduction and facilitates the achievement of most of the Millennium Development Goals.

“Science, technology and innovation underpin every [Millennium Development] goal. It is impossible to think of making gains in concerns to health and environment without a focused Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policy, yet it is equally true that a well-articulated STI policy can make huge gains in education, gender equality or upgrading of living conditions.” (UN Science, Technology and Innovation MDG Task Force Interim Report, December 2003)

Drastic progress in agricultural output, for example, comes from the application of the Green Revolution. Similarly, remarkable advances in the resolution of health issues are owed to the application of scientific knowledge and the work of highly qualified health personnel. Simple GPS handheld devices can now be used easily to find water in drought stricken areas. All countries also need the scientific capacity to understand critical issues such as global warming, the pros and cons of using genetically modified crops, or the ethical dimensions of cloning. Finally, progress in seismology, vulcanology and climatology has enhanced the ability to anticipate and prepare for natural disasters like floods, tsunamis and droughts. The existence of a tsunami warning system around the Indian Ocean, similar to the one already in place around the Pacific Rim, would undoubtedly have saved thousands of lives on December 26, 2004.

A direct product of the application of science and technology is the information and communication revolution. The advent of printing in the 15th century brought about the first radical transformation in the way knowledge is kept and shared by people. Today, technological innovations are revolutionizing again the capacity to store, transmit, access and use information. Rapid progress in electronics, telecommunications and satellite technologies, permitting high capacity data transmission at very low cost, has resulted in the quasi abolition of physical distance. For all practical purposes, there are no more logistical barriers to information access and communication among people, institutions and countries

Changing education and training needs

A trend towards higher and different skills has been observed in OECD countries and in the most advanced developing economies, as a result of increased competition in the labor market and rapid change in economic structures. This is confirmed by recent analyses of rates of return in a few Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil and Mexico) which show a rising rate of return for tertiary education, a reversal of earlier trends in the 1970s and the 1980s.² Moreover, in OECD countries, highly skilled white collar employees account for 25 to 35 per cent of the labor force.

A second, related dimension of change is the need to train young people to be flexible and to acquire the capacity to adapt easily to a rapidly changing world. Recent research carried out by Levy and Murnane on the skills requirements for the tasks performed in the US labor market shows the types of skills for which there is less demand or which have been taken over by computers and those for which there has been increased demand³. In their path-breaking study, the authors divided the tasks performed in firms into five broad categories:

• Expert thinking: solving problems for which there are no rule-based solutions, such as diagnosing the illness of a patient whose symptoms are out of the ordinary;
• Complex communication: interacting with others to acquire information, to explain it, or to persuade others of its implications for action; for example, a manager motivating the people whose work he/ she supervises;
• Routine cognitive tasks: mental tasks that are well described by logical rules, such as maintaining expense reports;
• Routine manual tasks: physical tasks that can be well described using rules, such as installing windshields on new vehicles in automobile assembly plants; and
• Non-routine manual tasks: physical tasks that cannot be well described as following a set of “if-then-do” rules and that are difficult to computerize because they require optical recognition and fine muscle control; for example, driving a truck.

The figure below shows trends for each type of task. Tasks requiring expert thinking and complex communication grew steadily and consistently during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. The share of the labor force employed in occupations that emphasize routine cognitive or routine manual tasks remained stable in the 1970s and then declined over the next two decades. Finally, the share of the labor force working in occupations that emphasize non-routine manual tasks declined throughout the period.

Source: Reproduced from Levy and Murnane (2004), p. 50, figure 3.5.

Note: Each trend reflects changes in the numbers of people employed in occupations emphasizing that task. To facilitate comparison, the importance of each task in the US economy is set to zero in 1969, the baseline year. The value in each subsequent year represents the percentile change in the importance of each type of task in the economy.

OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), which measures how well 15-year-olds in school are prepared to meet the challenges of today’s knowledge societies, is the only available international survey that comes close to assessing the effectiveness of education systems in preparing young people for the expert thinking and complex communication skills studied by Levy and Murnane.

PISA looks at students’ ability to use their knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges, rather than to master facts or a specific school curriculum. The first round of PISA was in 2000. It covered several content areas, but focused more on reading literacy, covering more than 300,000 secondary-school students in over thirty countries (including a few non-OECD members). The second round, in 2003, focused more on mathematics, and included measures of problem-solving ability. The 2003 PISA results clearly show that a large proportion of the target population does not meet the expected standards. In OECD countries, an average of 25 per cent of the tested population have low levels of achievement (inferior to level 2 on a scale from 1 to 5). The results are much worse in developing countries. In Mexico, for example, 67 per cent of the students attain less than the minimal level; in Tunisia 75 per cent are in the same situation.⁴

The third dimension of change in education and training needs is the growing importance of continuing education needed to update knowledge and skills on a regular basis because of the short “shelf life” of knowledge. The traditional approach of studying for a discrete and finite period of time to acquire a first degree or to complete graduate education before moving on to professional life is being progressively replaced by practices of lifelong education. Training is becoming an integral part of one's working life, and takes place in a myriad of contexts: on the job, in specialized higher education institutions, or even at home. As Shakespeare wrote with prescience several centuries ago:

“Learning is but an adjunct to ourself, And where we are our learning likewise is.”

In the medium term, this may lead to a progressive blurring between initial and continuing degree studies, as well as between young adult and mid-career training. Finland, one of the leading promoters of continuing education in Europe, is among the most advanced nations in terms of conceptualizing and organizing tertiary education along these new lines. Today, the country has more adults engaged in continuing education programs (200,000) than young people enrolled in regular higher education degree courses (150,000). But not all countries have achieved a balanced educational development as reflected in the qualifications of their labor force. While in Finland the proportion of the population older than 15 with secondary or tertiary education levels has increased from 12 to 70 per cent from 1960 to 2000, in a developing country such as Senegal it has grown only from 4.5 to 10 per cent over the same period.

From the student s perspective, the desire to position oneself for the new types of jobs in the knowledge economy provides a strong incentive to mix study program options and qualifications, often beyond traditional institutional boundaries. New patterns of demand are emerging, whereby learners attend several institutions or programs in parallel or sequentially, thus defining their own skill profiles in the labor market.

Another important consequence of the acceleration of scientific and technological progress is the diminished emphasis in tertiary education programs on the learning of facts and basic data per se. There is a growing importance of what could be called methodological knowledge and skills, i.e. the ability to learn in an autonomous manner. Today in many disciplines, factual knowledge taught in the first year of study may become obsolete before graduation. The learning process now needs to be increasingly based on the capacity to find, access and apply knowledge to problem-solving. In this new paradigm, where learning to learn, learning to transform information into new knowledge, and learning to transfer new knowledge into applications is more important than memorizing specific information, primacy is given to information seeking, analysis, the ability to reason, and problem-solving. In addition, competencies such as learning to work in teams, peer teaching, creativity, resourcefulness and the ability to adjust to change are also among the new skills which employers value in the knowledge economy.

The changing tertiary education landscape

New Forms of Competition. The decreased importance of physical distance means that the best universities in any country can decide to open a branch anywhere in the world or to reach out across borders using the Internet or satellite communication links, effectively competing with any national university on its own territory. With 90,000 and 500,000 students respectively, the [public] University of Maryland University College and [private] University of Phoenix have been the fastest growing distance education institutions in the USA in the past five years. The British Open University has inundated Canadian students with Internet messages saying more or less “we’ll give you degrees and we don’t really care if they’re recognized in Canada because they’re recognized by Cambridge and Oxford. And we’ll do it at one-tenth the cost.” ⁵ It is estimated that, in the US alone, there are already more than 3,000 specialized institutions dedicated to online training. Thirty-three states in the US have a statewide virtual university; and 85 per cent of the community colleges are expected to offer distance education courses by 2002.⁶ Distance education is sometimes delivered by a specialized institution set up by an alliance of universities, as is the case with Western Governor University in the US and the Open Learning Agency in British Columbia.

The proportion of US universities with distance education courses has grown from 34 per cent in 1997-98 to about 50 per cent in academic year 1999-2000, with public universities being much more advanced than private ones in this regard.⁷ The Mexican Virtual University of Monterrey offers 15 master’s programs using teleconferencing and the Internet that reach 50,000 students in 1,450 learning centers throughout Mexico and 116 spread all over Latin America. In Thailand and Turkey, the national open universities enroll respectively 41 and 38 per cent of the total student population in each country. Corporate universities are another form of competition which traditional universities will increasingly have to reckon with, especially in the area of continuing education. It is estimated that there are about 1,600 institutions in the world functioning today as corporate universities, up from 400 ten years ago. Two significant examples of successful corporate universities are those of Motorola and IBM. Recognized as one of the most successful corporate universities in benchmarking exercises, Motorola University, which operates with a yearly budget of 120 million dollars representing almost four per cent of its annual payroll, manages 99 learning and training sites in 21 countries.⁸ IBM’s corporate university, one of the largest in the world, is a virtual institution employing 3,400 professionals in 55 countries and offering more than 10,000 courses through Intranet and satellite links.

Corporate universities operate under one of any combination of the following three modalities: (i) with their own network of physical campuses (e.g., Disney, Toyota and Motorola), (ii) as a virtual university (e.g., IBM and Dow Chemical), or (iii) through an alliance with existing higher education institutions (e.g., Bell Atlantic, United HealthCare and United Technologies). A few corporate universities, such as the Rand Graduate School of Policy Studies and the Arthur D. Little School of Management, have been officially accredited and enjoy the authority to grant formal degrees. Experts are predicting that, by the year 2010, there will be more corporate universities than traditional campus-based universities in the world, and an increasing proportion of them will be serving smaller companies rather than corporate giants.

Franchise universities constitute a third category of new competitors. In many parts of the world, but predominantly in South and Southeast Asia and the formerly socialist countries of Eastern Europe, there has been a proliferation of overseas “validated courses” offered by franchise institutions operating on behalf of British, U.S., and Australian universities. One-fifth of the 80,000 foreign students enrolled in Australian universities are studying at offshore campuses, mainly in Malaysia and Singapore (Bennell 1998). The cost of attending these franchise institutions is usually one-fourth to one-third what it would cost to enroll in the mother institution.

The fourth form of unconventional competition comes from the new “academic brokers”, virtual entrepreneurs who specialize in bringing together suppliers and consumers of educational services. A few examples can be mentioned to illustrate this new trend:

• Companies like Connect Education, Inc. and Electronic University Network build, lease and manage campuses, produce multimedia educational software, and provide guidance to serve the training needs of corporate clients world-wide.⁹
• Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute coordinates and delivers degree programs from Boston University, Carnegie Mellon, Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the employees of United HealthCare and United Technologies.¹⁰
• Nexus, a UK based company advertising itself as the “world’s largest international student recruitment media company”, organizes fairs in many East Asian and Latin American countries, bringing together higher education institutions and students interested in overseas studies.
• Web sites like HungryMinds.com and CollegeLearning.com act as clearinghouses between schools and prospective students.
• ECollegebid, a consortium of colleges and universities, matches student objectives and ability to pay for an education with the willingness of a tertiary institution to offer tuition discounts.

At the shadier extreme of the academic brokering industry, one finds Internet-based essay mills offering to help students with their college assignments. Defended by their promoters as useful and harmless research tools, they are under attack from the academic community who decries their capacity to increase plagiarism and cheating.

Some “traditional” higher education institutions have been quick to catch onto the potential of education and training brokering arrangements. St. Petersburg Junior College recently entered into a partnership with Florida State University, the University of Central Florida and the UK Open University to offer four-year degree programs at some of its sites.¹¹ The University of California at Santa Cruz, having set up its own corporate training department ten years ago right in the middle of Silicon Valley, has established successful partnerships with a number of corporate universities, notably those operated by GE and Sun Microsystems, even managing to attract additional state funding on a matching grant basis.¹²

Changes in Structures and Modes of Operation. Faced with new training needs and new competitive challenges, many universities have undertaken important transformations in governance, organizational structure and modes of operation.

A key aspect has to do with the ability of universities to organize traditional disciplines differently, taking into consideration the emergence of new scientific and technological fields. Among the most significant ones, it is worth mentioning nanotechnology, molecular biology and biotechnology, advanced materials science, microelectronics, information systems, robotics, intelligent systems and neuroscience, and environmental science and technology. Training and research for these fields require the integration of a number of disciplines which have not necessarily been in close contact previously, resulting in the multiplication of inter- and multidisciplinary programs cutting across traditional institutional barriers. For example, the study of molecular devices and sensors, within the wider framework of molecular biology and biotechnology, brings together specialists in electronics, materials science, chemistry and biology to achieve greater synergy. Imaging technology and medical science have become closely articulated. Universities all over the world are restructuring their programs to adapt to these changes.

The new patterns of knowledge creation do not imply only a reconfiguration of departments into a different institutional map but more importantly, imply the reorganization of research and training around the search for solutions to complex problems, rather than the analytical practices of traditional academic disciplines. This evolution is leading to the emergence of what experts call “transdisciplinarity”, with distinct theoretical structures and research methods.¹³ McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, and the University of Maastricht in Holland were among the first universities to introduce problem-based learning in their medical and engineering programs in the 1970s. The University of British Columbia is promoting “research-based learning”, an approach linking undergraduate students to research teams with extensive reliance on information technology for basic course information. Waterloo University in Western Ontario earned a high reputation for its engineering degrees – considered among the best in the country – through the successful development of cooperative programs that integrate in-school and on-the-job training.

Even PhD. programs may be affected by this trend towards increased multi-disciplinarity. Proponents of a reform of doctoral education in the US predict that PhD. students will be less involved in the production of new knowledge and more on contributing to the circulation of knowledge across traditional disciplinary boundaries.

Realigning universities on the basis of inter- and multi-disciplinary learning and research themes does not imply only changes in program and curriculum design, but also significant modifications in the planning and organization of the laboratory and workshop infrastructure. From the Georgia Institute of Technology comes a successful experience in developing an interdisciplinary mechatronics laboratory serving the needs of students in electrical, mechanical, industrial, computer and other engineering departments in a cost-effective manner.¹⁴ A unique partnership bringing together Penn State University, the University of Puerto Rico-Mayaguez, the University of Washington and Sandia National Laboratories has permitted the establishment of “Learning Factory” facilities across the partner schools which allow teams of students from industrial, mechanical, electrical, chemical engineering and business administration to work on interdisciplinary projects.¹⁵

The evolution towards lifelong learning means that young high school graduates will gradually cease to be the primary clientele of universities. As a result, universities must organize themselves to accommodate the learning and training needs of a very diverse clientele: working students, mature students, stay-at-home students, travelling students, part-time students, day students, night students, weekend students, etc. One can expect a significant change in the demographic shape of higher education institutions, whereby the traditional structure of a pyramid with a majority of first degree students, a smaller group of post-graduate students, and finally an even smaller share of participants in continuing education programs will be replaced by an inverted pyramid with a minority of first time students, more students pursuing a second or third degree, and the majority of students enrolled in short-term continuing education activities. Already in the US, almost half of the student population consists of mature and part-time students, a dramatic shift from the previous generation. In Russia, part-time students represent 37 per cent of total enrolment.

Tertiary education institutions are also changing their pattern of admission to respond in a more flexible way to growing student demand. In 1999, for the first time in the US, a number of colleges decided to stagger the arrival of new students throughout the academic year, instead of restricting them to the fall semester.

In China, similarly, a spring college entrance examination was held for the first time in January 2000, marking a sea change in the history of that country s entrance examination system. Students who fail the traditional July examination will no longer have to wait a full year anymore to get a second chance.

Conclusion: New opportunities and challenges

The major trends and changes outlined in this article represent both opportunities and challenges for tertiary education institutions in developing countries, which are called upon to play a vital capacity building role in support of economic growth, poverty reduction, and achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

On the positive side, the use of modern technology can revolutionize the way education is delivered, resulting in more and better learning opportunities. The concurrent use of multimedia and computers permits the development of blended pedagogical approaches involving active and interactive learning. Frontal teaching can be replaced by or associated with asynchronous teaching in the form of online classes that can be either scheduled or self-paced. With a proper integration of technology in the curriculum, teachers can move away from their traditional role as one-way instructors towards becoming facilitators of learning.

In a pioneer study conducted at the beginning of the 1990s, two professors at the University of Michigan, Kozma and Johnson, analyzed several ways in which information technology could play a catalytic role in enriching the teaching and learning experience. They suggested a new pedagogical model involving (i) active engagement of the students rather than passive reception of information, (ii) opportunities to apply new knowledge to real-life situations, (iii) the ability to represent concepts and knowledge in multiple ways rather than just with text, (iv) the use of computers to achieve mastery of skills rather than superficial acquaintance, (v) learning as a collaborative activity rather than an individual act, and (vi) an emphasis on learning processes rather than memorization of information.¹⁶

Web-based virtual labs, remote lab experiences and access to digital libraries are but a few examples of the new learning enhancing opportunities that increased connectivity can provide cash-strapped universities and colleges in developing countries. For instance, tertiary institutions with virtual libraries can join the recently established Online College Library Center which offers inter-library loans of digitized documents on the Internet. Even in traditional libraries, CD-ROMs can replace journal collections. Cornell University, for example, has created the Essential Electronic Agricultural Library , which consists of a collection of 173 CD-ROMs storing text from 140 journals for the past four years that can be shared with libraries at universities in developing country.

The open education movement, pioneered by universities such as MIT (Open CourseWare), Carnegie Mellon (Open Learning Initiative), Rice University (community-based learning object commons ), and Harvard University (special library collections) with funding from the Hewlett Foundation, offers the promise of extensive content and software resources that tertiary education institutions in developing countries could use and adapt to fit their needs. A Chinese consortium working in partnership with MIT has already established an expanded Chinese version of the Open CourseWare website. Users all over the world are leveraging the power of the Internet to form virtual communities of learning to help each other apply and further enrich available open education resources.

But the encouraging developments discussed in this paper have also brought about significant challenges. First of all, reliance on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is not a panacea. To create a more active and interactive learning environment, faculty must have a clear vision as to the purpose of the new technologies and the most effective way of integrating them in program design and delivery what experts call instructional integration. Then they must educate themselves in the use of the new pedagogical channels and supports. A 2000 report from the University of Illinois on the use of Internet classes in undergraduate education offers a few cautionary warnings.¹⁷ Quality online education is best achieved with relatively small class sizes, not to exceed 30 students.

Moreover, it does not seem desirable to teach an entire undergraduate degree program only with online classes if students are expected to learn to think critically and interact socially in preparation for professional life. Combining online and regular classroom courses gives students more opportunity for human interaction and development of the social aspects of learning through direct communication, debate, discussion and consensus building.

These pedagogical requirements apply also to the design and delivery of distance education programs which need to match learning objectives with appropriate technology support. In scientific fields like engineering, for example, the need for practical training is often overlooked. Computer simulations alone cannot replace all forms of applied training. In many science and technology-oriented programs, hands-on activities in laboratories and workshops remain an indispensable constituent of effective learning.

Second, poor connectivity is a serious constraint in many developing countries, which severely restricts the likelihood that tertiary education institutions could take full advantage of ICT-related opportunities. Many low- income nations have limited resources for building up their ICT infrastructure and lack the economic and political leverage to negotiate favourable access and price conditions with international telecommunications firms. A recent evaluation of connectivity in African universities found that the 87 institutions that participated in the survey have, on average, no more broadband capacity than an average household in the US, at a cost 100 times higher.¹⁸

Third, developing countries face a whole range of quality assurance issues as a result of the new developments analyzed in this article. It is doubtful that the principles, norms and criteria routinely applied to evaluate or accredit campus-based programs can be used without significant adjustments to assess the quality and effectiveness of virtual universities, online courses and other modalities of distance education.

Appropriate evaluation processes are needed to reassure the public that the courses, programs and degrees offered by the new types of distance education institutions and the new forms of e-learning and blended programs in traditional universities meet acceptable academic and professional standards. Less emphasis is likely to be given to traditional input dimensions such as qualifications of individual faculty and student selection criteria, and more on the capabilities of graduates. Western Governors University’s initiative to move to competency-based evaluations performed by an independent agency has created an interesting precedent which may ultimately induce change in evaluation methods used by traditional universities.

In the final analysis, flexibility may be the one single characteristic most likely to determine tertiary education institutions ability to contribute effectively to the capacity building needs of developing countries. Increasingly, tertiary education institutions need the capacity to react swiftly by establishing new programs, reconfiguring existing ones, and eliminating outdated courses without being hampered by bureaucratic regulations and obstacles.

This must take place in the context of systematic efforts to develop and implement a vision through strategic planning. By identifying both favourable and harmful trends in their immediate environment and linking them to a rigorous assessment of their internal strengths and weaknesses, institutions can better define their mission, market niche and medium-term development objectives and formulate concrete plans to achieve these objectives. For lack of strategic planning, many new distance education institutions, for example, have adopted inappropriate technologies, failing to assess their adequacy against the purpose of their programs, the competency of their professors and the learning needs of their students.

Finally, it is important to stress that strategic planning is not a one-time exercise; the more successful organizations in both business and academia are those that are relentless in challenging themselves in the pursuit of better and more effective ways of responding to client needs. The advice that the Roman philosopher Seneca gave us two thousand years ago may be even more relevant today as it was during his time:

“There is no favorable wind for those who do not know where they are going.”

Notes

Opportunities and Responsibilities of High Tech Industries

by Lene Lange, Professor, Science Director, Molecular Biotechnology, Novozymes A/S

Abstract

From High Tech Industry point of view the knowledge and capacity relations to developing countries has a strong focus on the ”growth economies” such as those of India, China, Brazil, Singapore, and South Korea. There are very encouraging perspectives and hopes for achieving win/win relations between High Tech industry and these countries, far beyond the risk for ”brain drain”, as exemplified by the area of industrial biotechnology. However, the relations of the High Tech Industry to the poorer and slower growing developing countries are almost non-existing: they neither present interesting purchasing value markets nor suitable sites for placing daughter companies or other activities. At most, a few scientists from these countries may be able to obtain positions in the High Tech industry. A focused and determined effort is needed in order to get these countries into the loop and prevent an increasing marginalization in a globalized world. For this, market economy and market forces are not sufficient. Enhanced and stimulated South/South alliances, making the growth countries serve as engines for development in the poorer countries is an obvious opportunity. But is it enough? Is there a realistic role for the private sector in the development of the poorest countries as well?

High-technology industries & developing countries

The focus of the industry is on the “growth economies” among the developing countries, e.g. China, India, and Brazil, which are attractive for high tech industry, due to:

• Rapidly growing markets
• Well educated people, and
• Good infra-structure.

Similarly, attracting high tech industrial investment is a high priority for these countries in order to stimulate economic growth.

High tech investment in such ”Growth/Developing” countries is potentially a win/win situation, in which the host country, among other, gains:

• Foreign investments, creating skilled jobs
• Training of capable people and providing job experience in high tech industrial environment
• Creation of a learning loop for environmental authorities and regulatory legislation and management, and
• Direct access to high value products.

The possible down-sides for the industry are:

• Need for heavy and risky investment
• Inherent risk of making technology transfer to future competitors.

while the possible down-sides for the host country are:

• Loosing market shares to foreign industries, and
• Loosing competent people.

Example of a win/win situation: Novozymes in China

Host country gain:

• Technology transfer regarding state of the art biological production
• microbial fermentation
• recovery and formulation
• compliance with environmental requirements
• Skilled industrial jobs in a Tripple Bottom Line industry, providing input to cleaner industries!
• Chinese staff gets exposure to Western countries high tech environments (incl management).

Novozymes’ most important benefits:

• Access to a large and rapidly growing market, and
• First hand knowledge about values, priorities and capabilities of the worlds largest country.

Examples of additional public benefits:

• The Local Novozymes President serves as Vice Chairman for the Business Council for Sustainable Development in China
• The leading scientist in the Novozymes R&D laboratory is part of leadership of the Mycological Society of China
• Novozymes sponsorship for biodiversity studies at Chinese universities (-> technology transfer).

Such activities of senior, local Novozymes staff are encouraged!

Developing countries in a globalized knowledge society

Developing countries may be divided according to their ability to take part in globalization, in:

1. the growth economy countries
2. the remaining countries, being left out of the knowledge loop. (To secure this market forces are not sufficient!)

Western high tech industry takes interest in and invests in connections to growth countries, but there is an urgent need to for the West to focus on the remaining countries. In this, knowledge and capacity building should be the prime focus of development aid programs.

High Tech industry relations to the poorest of the developing countries

These countries do not constitute interesting markets, nor do they present attractive opportunities for establishment of subsidiaries due to their lack of: infrastructure, skilled staff and home market drive. It is often unlikely that their young scientists can compete for positions in high tech companies, in spite of the fact that the high tech industry has a lot the countries could use jobs, technologies, products, drive.

In contrast, the poorer among the developing countries risk to loose some of their best brains to the industrial countries. However, it is not only a loss; it may provide stimulus and role models, many of the best may return, while others will send substantial amounts of money back. And, those returning with high skills provide important technology transfer!

An example of poor country strategies, illustrated by the use of clean technology as a development driver

By making enzymes available for improvement of classical industries (textile, leather, paper mills) and training staff to handle the relevant biological processes, it may become possible to make lateral use of the new biotech knowledge to start other types of agro-industry businesses, leading to rural development and job creation. This may help start a positive environment loop, e.g. by pricing water and waste water and building infrastructure.

Development aid

The poorest developing countries usually receive development aid, but building positive donor relations takes a lot of time and effort. This should be kept in mind and the time, focus, and attention of the developing country elite should be respected. Optimized Tripple Bottom Line thinking is needed also for aid programs!

Take Home Messages 1

• Development aid should make (high level) capacity building and technology transfer a prime focus
• Development aid programs should not waste the time and attention of the developing country elite on the donor agendas
• South/South relations and (private sector) technology may be used as potent drivers of development

Take Home Messages 2

• The worst risk for developing countries is to be marginalized, both with respect to investments and access to high level jobs
• The presence of tech industry in a country may lead to an important win/win situation
• Loosing skilled people to Western countries is a loss but also holds a potential for stimulus (note that, eventually, Western countries may also loose skilled jobs to the growth countries)

Take Home Messages 3

• High technology may be a development driver
• This is not only possible in the form of the start-up of pharma enterprises
• Cleaner technologies, biological solutions and other knowledge intensive areas can be efficient development drivers
• The most development-relevant area is the transfer of cleaner and more efficient agro-industrial technologies, upgrading existing production plants, see for example: Capacity building in Thailand through Novozymes/BIOTEC collaboration on bioprospecting (under mutually agreed terms, in full compliance with the Biodiversity Convention)

Consequences of Current Trends in S&T Higher Education

by Michael Oborne, Director, International Futures Program, Global Science Forum, OECD

Abstract

The development of human resources in science and technology is an acknowledged priority for countries that seek to advance science and technology as major driving forces of the increasingly globalised economy. Demand for a highly trained workforce in S&T is expected to rise in future years in a majority of developed and developing economies. However, concordant observations suggest an apparent decline in interest in science and engineering studies in a number of OECD countries. This apparent decrease in student enrolment at various level of the educational system varies from country to country in the OECD area. The actual reasons of such disinterest have not been assessed precisely, but some countries are concerned about the impact on competitiveness and productivity. What consequences such decline may have on students’ flows from developing countries to more developed economies remains to be determined.

Consequences of current trends in S&T higher education

The development of human resources in science and technology is an acknowledged priority for societies which seek to advance science and technology as major driving forces of the increasingly globalised economy. Traditionally, OECD area countries have been leaders in providing human capital for the science and technology revolution, a trend that was built up over centuries of awareness and investment in institutions and ideas. Today, a new situation prevails, as large developing economies enter the scene with huge untapped human resources and a commitment to build a national, highly competitive innovation economy. This short paper gives an account of recent trends and developments in higher education throughout the OECD area, and makes some remarks about the rising importance of economies such as China and India.

The sharp increase in demand for skilled workers in the OECD countries in the period 1985-2005 was fuelled by the digital revolution, and in particular the informatics innovations of the late 1980’s. Both software and hardware engineering skills became highly prized skills, and enrolments in the major universities, particularly in the Anglo-Saxon countries, shifted dramatically to science, engineering and computer skills throughout this period. The United States, which led much of the informatics revolution, began to attract higher numbers of foreign students during this period, and became the global training place for many of the developing countries. The situation was not especially new, but it was particularly striking because of the high pay-off in well remunerate employment was touted as an example of markets adjusting to new needs with high pay. While the supply of science and technology human capital was effectively global, the demand for such skills was concentrated in the Untied States itself, making the US the premier country for attracting – and retaining – global talent pools.

Source: Dumont and Lemaitre, 2004
The United States had begun to accept students from virtually every country in the world, and was awarding the largest number of degrees to foreign students in the OECD area by 2001.

Throughout the OECD area, there was a clear preference for foreign PhD students to move to English speaking countries, where the US, the UK, Australia, Canada combined had over three fourths of the foreign student population registered in 2001. To some extent, this preference was a reflection of the high priority these countries had afforded to scientific and research investments over the period 1946-2000, including a number of investments related to military and strategic objectives. The development of public-private partnerships in the 1980’s, the change in status of many polytechnical institutions (which became universities) and the highly developed system of private foundation and individual support for research endowed many institutions in these countries with an advantage when developing new technology related programs. The fabled relationships between universities such as Stanford and MIT with the tech nology communities that surrounded them was yet again proof of an evolution of research in the direction of a less academic, and more applied outcome.

The following chart makes this clear. The vast majority of foreign students in the OECD area are enrolled in institutions located in English speaking countries, which then again reinforces the demand for more English language training, both in these countries, and increasingly in other countries as well where English is not the mother tongue. A number of OECD countries have instituted English language instruction in the tertiary institutions to attract ever grown numbers of foreign students who are committed to learning one, but not two, foreign languages well enough to earn degrees. This is particularly true in the sciences and engineering.

Many of the students who were surveyed in the United States planned to stay in that country after they had graduated – with Germany and Canada included in this number. Increasingly, students were leaving OECD area countries, particularly in science, engineering and technology studies to attend graduate school in the US and UK, many with the hopes of staying some time after their studies in the host country.

This influx of students provided increasingly important inputs to the economies of the host countries, who quickly adopted new immigration and resident rules to both attract and to keep highly qualified talent within their borders. Examples of this are the H2 visa system in the United States, which were designed to attract highly talent from developing countries as well as from the OECD area.

An excellent example of this “retention” factor in the high technology field is a study that was carried out on skilled human capital involved in start-ups in Silicon Valley over a twenty year period. Chinese capital represented 20 per cent of human capital by 1998, with Indian human capital at just over 10 per cent. Not only was the educational background a key to this phenomenon, but the framework conditions for start-up initiatives in the US were highly favourable to new entrants, especially those who had English language skills and local networks through educational background and training.

Changing conditions

However, concordant observations suggest an apparent decline in interest in science and engineering studies in a number of OECD countries. This apparent decrease in student enrolment at various level of the educational system varies from country to country in the OECD area, but is a general trend throughout the OECD area. Many studies have been initiated to determine the cause of this decline in interest. Factors that have been identified are not surprising:

• difficulty and length of studies in science and engineering;
• career development
• relatively low salary
• need to focus and choose concentration area early in educational career (16-18 years old);
• perceived low employment opportunities

The actual reasons of such disinterest have not been assessed precisely, but many countries in the OECD area are concerned about the impact on national competitiveness and productivity. Many new programs, both national and regional (i.e. EU level) have been created to address what is perceived to be a serious problem.

But the situation has also changed for the United States, the UK and to a lesser extent Canada and Australia. The first, and most important change, was the government reaction to the terrorist attacks in September, 2001. Within months, the Homeland Security Department had been created in the government, and measures were introduced to both track foreign nationals on US soil, and to limit access of foreign nationals to “strategic assets” such as research laboratories and universities. Increasingly, these measures were strengthened, and border controls tightened. By 2003, US graduate deans were complaining that foreign student applications were down significantly, and that in some cases, university departments would have to review their ability to maintain graduate programs, as not enough US nationals were enrolled to staff the auxiliary teaching and laboratory functions.

Source: IIE (2004), "Open Doors Report", http://opendoors.iienetwork.org

At the same time, The European Union was strengthening its programs to assist Member States in attracting and retaining foreign students, particularly in science and technology. Japan was following a similar course, although on a lesser scale due to the language requirements (some teaching in engineering is done in English in Japan).

The biggest factors for change were developments in China and India. Both had been major suppliers of foreign graduate students world-wide, and both were strengthening their educational systems to lure back graduates from abroad and establish world class institutions. Both governments were making significant efforts by the mid-2003 period to review and strengthen their graduate programs in science and to bring back trained human capital from abroad. Developments in the Bangalore region, as well as the Delhi and Mumbai region in India favoured this policy, as did the protracted high growth in the Chinese economy, part of which was due to the presence of foreign investors who were also fuelling demand for English language skilled human capital. Lastly, the behaviour of multi-national enterprises set the pace for moving human capital around the globe to meet changing needs of the private sector, and once again, in the image of the late 19th century, expatriate skilled capital is an integral and important part of the transfer of skills and knowledge throughout the world economy.

The situation in Europe

In 2000, the European Union set a policy agenda to develop a new type of economy. Ministers meeting in Lisbon adopted the ambitious Lisbon Agenda which was according to the statement issued by the assembly to make the EU a major player in the new knowledge-based economy:

“The Union has today set itself a new strategic goal for the next decade: to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.”

Ministers were, in fact, endorsing what had been happening in isolated areas around the EU, but now needed the combined attention and support of the member States in order to become a realty. Again, in 2002, at a meeting in Barcelona, ministers began to become more concrete about the ways in which the “KBE” (knowledge-based economy) would be built:

“overall spending on R&D and innovation …should be increased with the aim of approaching 3 per cent of GDP by 2010. Two-thirds of this new investment should come from the private sector.”

The Lisbon agenda recognized the central importance of human capital – in fact, the KBE was largely a matter of producing, husbanding and encouraging human capital in an age when knowledge was increasingly the value-added that made the difference in innovative products and services that were springing up globally.

What does achieving this goal mean for the Member States of the European Union? In fact, it invites Member States to change – even radically chance in some cases – the development and use of skilled human capital over the next ten years. To meet the states goals of the Lisbon Agenda, more than 600,000 additional research personnel will be required in the EU.

Clearly, this target is not going to be easy to attain – in fact, it cannot be attained in the timeframe prescribed by the Lisbon Agenda itself. Member States of the EU are not in a position to add this number of research personnel to their budgets, particularly at a time when economic growth is sluggish in the region. Overall research budgets would need dramatic increases. At the same time, university facilities would need to be expanded to train and retain the large number of students passing through the system on their way to advanced degrees in science, engineering and technology. More importantly, it would mean a shift in enrollments in national universities, moving towards much larger numbers of students – either nationals of foreign students – pursing degrees in the sciences. Such shifts are difficult to make, and require both negotiations within faculties and significant injections of new investment from governments (most European universities are in the public sector). A priori, these seems unrealistic. You need growth to fuel this type of investment, and that growth is happening elsewhere in the world.

Where the KBE may be growing fast...

China, and to a lesser extent, India, have been growing by leaps and bounds in the past decade. Structural changes in domestic and international policies, changes in the governance and oversight of private business, new trade arrangements, opening to foreign direct investment and the like have made these two economies the star players in the global race for a growth engine. China alone has been growing by 9-10 per cent a year for the last eight years.

One of the key policies in the Chinese growth strategy is the training of qualified science and technology personnel abroad. China continues to increase the absolute numbers of students abroad, principally in the English speaking countries:

While not all of these students are in graduate school, nor in the sciences, there is a strong concentration of students in science and technology. The Chinese government has made special efforts to encourage science, and has concentrated efforts on investing in S&T facilities and universities. At the same time, China is increasing the number of graduate doctoral degrees granted in the country itself, showing a commitment to the KBE:

Source: Weiguo and Zhaohui, 2004

At the same time, the Chinese government is making significant investments in R&D. In the light of the Lisbon Agenda, it is interesting to see the relative performance of the Chinese economy and the engagements of the European Union. Although the absolute levels of investment are still in favor of the OECD countries, the Chinese authorities are committed to gaining on developed countries, and the levels commitment by the national and the regional authorities in China is growing very fast. China is now the third in gross domestic expenditure on reseach and development.

Source: OECD, MSTI, 2004/1

Conclusions

China is moving in the direction charted by many OECD countries. Among the national priorities are the long term investment in human capital, the necessary step towards ensuring a KBE. With the level of resources, the level of political commitment and the alacrity with which Chinese citizens will move to take advantage of these new policies, it is certain that China will move to centre stage economically if the politics of transition can be managed successfully. High unemployment, listless youth cultures, and lack-luster economic performance do not haunt these new economic giants, and they intend to take advantage of that historic opening.

Unless OECD countries take a closer look at their own long term developments, and adjust, however painfully, their research and development commitments, they are likely to be surpassed by developing countries such as China, India and perhaps even Brazil, where age-old entitlement policies are not so firmly in place, and innovation and change can come about through the new global culture of science.

The Role of International Organizations in Handling Brain Drain

by Julia Hasler, Programme Specialist for Life Sciences, UNESCO

Abstract

There are many different manifestations of “brain drain”, and each country which suffers from this phenomenon may have a unique profile of causes and effects that are a result of the economic, political, social and cultural characteristics of that country. In affluent countries of Europe there is considerable concern about brain drain to the USA. In poorer countries, the drain is to any country or region that offers better opportunities for work and careers in science and technology. Another major factor in poor countries is “internal brain drain” where individuals trained in areas of science and technology are partially or fulltime employed elsewhere formally or informally, for what in Africa has been called PESA or personal economic survival activities. This same “internal brain drain” is seen in rich countries which are unable to convince their own brightest young people to study science and engineering subjects. Whilst the driving force may be primarily economic for many leaving their countries of origin, for others it has more to do with career aspirations. Brain drain, internal brain drain, brain gain, brain circulation, reverse brain drain are complex and dynamic global, regional and national processes and, therefore, changes are likely to emerge slowly and the idea that they can be controlled may be illusory. The solutions for different regions of the world are likely to be diverse, intersectoral, and probably driven by economic and political forces. The way that international organisations might play a new and positive role within these dynamics is by working with the reality of the mobility of workers in science and technology 68 and maximizing its benefits. A number of different means of ensuring an “equitable distribution of the benefits” of brain circulation will be explored at this meeting in the working group discussions. These may range from support to the African, Asian, and Latin American diaspora for meaningful research and development projects in their countries of origin, to perhaps new ways of viewing training in science and technology as a global “goods” with a tax for the “users” to be paid to the “producers”.

The role of international organizations in handling brain drain

There are many different manifestations of “brain drain”, and each country which suffers from this phenomenon may have a unique profile of causes and effects that are a result of its historical, economic, political, social and cultural characteristics. In affluent countries of Europe, there is considerable concern about loss of scientific and technical human resources to the USA (Mahroum, 1998). In poorer countries, the migration of trained people is to any country or region that offers better opportunities for work and careers in science and technology. Terms in use to describe aspects of the phenomenon include not only brain drain, but also brain gain, brain circulation, brain exchange, brain return, and brain waste. Much in-depth analysis and discussion of brain drain and its impact on economies and development can be found through a search of the Internet. This presentation serves as a short introduction to the subject and is not an exhaustive review.

There has been an evolving view of “brain drain” starting with the British Royal Society which first coined the expression in 1963 to describe the outflow of scientists and technologists to the United States and Canada in the 1950s and early 1960s (Royal Society, 1963). It was recognised that the welfare of those remaining in the countries of origin could be adversely affected by an outflow of educated manpower, viewed as “Human Capital”. Consistent with this viewpoint, Bhagwati et al. proposed a “Brain Drain Tax” in the mid-1970s, as a monetary compensation to less-developed countries that should be paid by developed ones for the draining of their cultural and scientific elites through that outflow.

An interesting debate around Bhagwati’s proposal may be found in the papers of Bhagwati & Dellafar (1973), Bhagwati (1975, 1976a, 1976b) and Hamada (1977). In the 1960s and 1970s, the numerous debates on brain drain concluded that it was conditioned by political and economic imbalances in the world system. Several studies analysed the role of international institutions and organizations, the coordination of social and migration policies, the legitimacy of restrictive migration policies (in relation to the human rights declaration), etc. The notion of skilled migrants as “Human Capital” belonging to their country of origin to a sufficient degree to be the object of a tax, although it captures an important abstract element of the overall dilemma, was deeply repellent to all notions of individual freedom and human rights, and hence was unworkable as such.

Current views span a spectrum from seeing brain drain as the hunting of human intellectual property by rich nations to an issue of human rights with regard to freedom of mobility of skilled individuals. A number of poorer countries are justifiably very critical of the active recruiting of nurses, doctors and teachers from their countries to fill vacuums in human resources of rich nations. On the other hand, there is the view that brain drain is encouraged, not only because the technical and economic underdevelopment of poorer countries means that job opportunities are limited or non existent there, but also because of tendencies in some countries to fill such good jobs as there are on a basis of family connections, political influence, and corruption. In some countries, there is a reality gap between the political rhetoric offering incentives to people to return to their home countries and the actual opportunities available.

The concept of “brain gain” is usually used to describe the benefits accruing to countries where skilled workers migrate and it is clear that the economic benefits are considerable. Whilst the supplier countries clearly suffer brain drain, it may be possible that there is some gain from brain drain, not just for the beneficiary countries but also for the supplier country, where there are insufficient opportunities for appropriate work and salaries for its citizens. In a poor economy with an inadequate growth potential, the return on human capital is likely to be low, leading to a limited incentive to acquire education. Allowing migration to take place from such an economy could thus increase the educated fraction of its population because of this incentive.

Given that only a proportion of the educated residents would emigrate, it could well be that in reality, the average level of education of the remaining population would increase.

Although simplistic in some ways, this viewpoint is further extended with the observation of the benefits given to countries of origin by their diaspora. At the 1999 UNESCO – ICSU World Conference on Science, Jean-Baptiste Meyer and Mercy Brown presented an important paper entitled: “Scientific Diasporas:
A New Approach to the Brain Drain”. It is based on the idea that an expatriate scientifically skilled population may be considered as a potential asset instead of a permanent loss, if modern means of communication (Internet) are mobilised.

From brain drain and gain, has emerged the concept of “brain circulation” discussed by Johnson and Regets (1998) where they state: “This refers to the cycle of moving abroad to study, then taking a job abroad, and later returning home to take advantage of a good opportunity. The authors believe this form of migration will increase in the future, especially if economic disparities between countries continue to diminish.” In considering “brain return” twenty years earlier, Glaser (1978) was of the opinion that the commitment to return to the home country is very strong amongst high-level personnel working or studying abroad, and that whilst many stay away longer than they initially planned, they eventually return to their home country.

A further term, “brain waste”, describes the waste of skills that occurs when highly skilled workers migrate into forms of employment not requiring the application of the skills and experience applied in the former job or acquired through training (OECD Report, 1997). In Africa, this internal brain drain has been called PESA, or Personal Economic Survival Activities, where individuals trained in areas of science and technology are partially or fulltime employed elsewhere formally or informally. Another more subtle type of internal brain drain is seen in rich countries which are unable to convince their own brightest young people to study science and engineering subjects. Brain wastage which affects developed countries further worsens their hunger for outside sources of skilled manpower, and hence increases the severity of brain drain from underdeveloped countries.

Brain drain, brain gain, brain circulation, brain return, brain exchange, brain wastage, internal brain drain, and reverse brain drain are complex and dynamic global, regional and national processes and, therefore, changes are likely to emerge slowly and the idea that they can be controlled may be illusory. The solutions for different regions of the world are likely to be diverse, intersectoral, and probably driven by economic and political forces strongly influenced by the productivity of science and technology which radically and irreversibly affects the growth and development of nations. Paradigms based on notions of human capital, on countermeasures based on preventing/regulating flows of skills, or on canceling their negative effects through taxation, have not worked and have become de facto obsolete. The mobility of highly skilled manpower should rather be seen as a normal process wherein the real challenge is to manage it as well as possible so that brain drain is turned into brain circulation with benefits for the individuals and countries involved.

Different parts of the world are differently affected by brain drain as illustrated below:

African and Arab countries are hardest hit:

• 37 per cent of the world migration of experts and specialists come from African and Arab countries;
• 54 per cent of doctors, 26 per cent of engineers and 17 per cent of scientists graduated from African and Arab universities migrate, in particular to Europe, the United States and Canada where they stay and work;
• More than half of African and Arab students who study abroad do not return to their homelands;
• The U.S.A, Britain and Canada attract 75 per cent of African and Arab experts (10th Afro-Arab Parliamentary Conference Addis Ababa , 8-10/1/2003)

References

This page is included in the publication "Capacity Building in Higher Education and Research on a Global Scale"
© The Ministry of Education 2006