Brain Drain Final ISESCO 1

8/3/2019 Brain Drain Final ISESCO 1

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PREVENTION OF BRAIN-DRAIN

FROM OIC -COUNTRIES *


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CONTENTS

Page

Abstract 2

Introduction 3

1. Concept of Brain Drain/Brain Gain/Brain Waste 4

2. Reasons of Brain Drain and Its Impact on the Home Country 5

3. Strategy for Preventing Brain-Drain from OIC Countries 9

4. Various useful attempts at international level to arrest the Brain Drain 15

5. Examples of Brain Drain from OIC Countries 17

6. Some measures to prevent Brain Drain 35

7. Conclusion 43

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PREVENTION OF BRAIN MIGRATION

FROM OIC COUNTRIES

Abstract

The migration of intellectual workers and skilled personnel from the less developed

countries, particularly from the poor countries, to the more developed or advancedcountries termed as Brain-Drain is a global phenomenon. However, it hurts more, particularly in the area of Science and Technology, the progress of poor and developingcountries and is a very serious matter which such countries must attend on urgent basis.

Most countries of OICbelong to the less developed part of the world and therefore,OIC is confronted with this serious problem and needs constant attention to deal with.

In this report, the problem, as in world over, particularly for OIC countries is brieflydiscussed describing the reasons and the possible remedial measures. Some aspects of OICcountries are also discussed with useful measures taken to deal with this problem.Examples of ICTP (Trieste, Italy) and CERN (Geneva, Switzerland) are mentioned asuseful measures to arrest Brain Drain. Some steps taken by ISESCO, COMSTECH, IDBand other OIC organizations as well as OIC-countries and regions like Pakistan, Egypt,Turkey, North Africa and Middle East etc. to arrest Brain-Drain are also mentioned.

In the end some high lights and main suggestions are listed which OIC could takeup to tackle this important problem of preventing the Brain-Drain.

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Introduction

The migration of intellectual manpower from less developed countries to moredeveloped countries is a global phenomenon. The most prominent migration of intellect is

from the poor and developing countries to the rich and advanced countries. While themigration of intellect from one country to the other has its own merits and leads to better development of the world and the nations forming it, it also lends damage to the countrieswhich need badly the presence and the contributions of such intellectual and qualified personnel.

While the migration leads to inter cultural understanding and benefiting from eachothers culture, it leads to the deprivation or depletion of cultural richness when the highlyenriched intellectuals migrate. The migration of Chinese to the other Asian regions led tothe introduction of Buddhist Culture and the migration of Muslims from Arabian Peninsula

led to the spread of Muslim Culture across many societies outside the Islamic world.However in recent years, the fast development in the world on the one hand led to

the great economic disparity among the countries, and on the other it made them closer because of fast development in information technology. It thus led to faster movement of intellectuals to better places and when it deprived the poor and developing countries byexcessive numbers of migration, it became alarming to the developing countries the loss of intellect.

As said earlier migration of intellect is a relative and universal phenomenon. The

Scientists and Professors of Europe have migrated to USA, when they found relatively better salaries and better research environments there. Similarly the migration of qualified personnel from Asian countries of Pakistan, India, China, Korea etc. made large migrations,this was a serious set back to the relatively better development in these countries.

Also the migration of better qualified scientists and engineers from the OICCountries to the advanced countries like USA was noticeable and has become a matter of great concern. In a census report of US[U.S. Census Bureau 2000] the migration fromOIC countries like Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey, Iran, Morocco etc. at tertiary level educationrevealed relative portions of people settled in U.S. with skilled jobs.

It is therefore a matter of great concern to investigate the causes of migration of qualified persons from the OIC countries and settling in advanced countries of Europe andUSA. In this report an attempt has been made to investigate the reasons of intellectualmigration, so called the Brain Drain and to suggest measures to arrest or minimize thismigration, what is termed as Brain Prevention. Particular attention is paid to the Brain-Drain and Brain Prevention aspects of migration from OIC countries to the Western

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advanced countries. At the end, some obvious suggestions have been made for the OICcountries whereby this migration could be arrested or minimized.

1. Concept of brain Drain/brain gain/brain waste

The highly qualified and trained manpower is regarded as the greatest asset of anynation. The impact that one creative individual can make through his inventions,innovations and discoveries can be greater than the labour of thousands of untrainedindividuals. The loss of human resources, especially of skilled and intellectual workersfrom a country, is referred to as the Brain Drain or the Brain Migration. For example, whensomeone leaves a third-world country, moves to America for training and education, butthen does not return to his or her home country to benefit his country through hisknowledge, the country suffers a brain Drain.

Brain Drain is a global phenomenon. However, countries characterized as the ThirdWorld Countries have suffered great setbacks at the hands of Brain Drain. Thus, Africa,which has serious shortages of manpower, has been worst hit. It is said to have lost 60,000 professional doctors, university lecturers, engineers, surveyors, etc between 1985 and 1990and to have been losing an average of 20,000 annually ever since (Oyowe, 1996).

There are more than 21,000 Nigerian doctors practicing in the United States alone.Meanwhile, Nigeria's own health system suffers a cruel lack of medical practitioners. InSudan, 17% of doctors and dentists, 20% of university lecturers, 30% of engineers and 45%of surveyors have gone to work abroad(UNDP's Human Development Report, 1992).

Sub-Saharan Africa is in the paradoxical situation today of having large numbers of graduates in various disciplines - from medicine and engineering to architecture andaccountancy - who have either emigrated or are simply unemployed because of the presence of a large number of foreign technical assistants from donor countries (Oyowe,1996).

Iran, Pakistan and Turkey are included among the top-30 skilled emigrationcountries of the world. In 2000, the stock of skilled emigrants was 0.308 million for Iran,0.222 million for Pakistan and 0.174 million for Turkey (Ozden and Schiff, 2006).

As many as three-quarters of physicians who come to rich countries hail from less-developed ones grappling with AIDS, infectious diseases and other health scourges. In theUnited States, for example, most foreign doctors are from India, the Philippines andPakistan(Oyowe, 1996).

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The reverse of brain Drain is the phenomenon termed as the Brain Gain, which isthe return migration after additional knowledge and skills have been acquired abroad andthat results in creation of business and trade networks. The Third World elites thatimmigrated to an industrialized country are able to play an important role in thedevelopment process of their home country through return migration and/or transnationalnetworks (in the following shortly: remigration). This potential contribution of emigratedelites to the development process of their home country is very relevant.

It is possible to give the emigrated elites of a developing country, sufficientincentives, to re-migrate even if they have already been living abroad for a long timeand have not yet built up any productive contact to their country of origin. Policymakers can intentionally initiate and amplify the positive development impulse of remigration mentioned in the first assumption.

Another term often coined is the Brain-Waste. Foreign workers are often hiredto do jobs for which they are overqualified. Examples of Caribbean doctors or EasternEuropean scientists working as taxi drivers in some large U.S. city are well known.Similarly, Moroccan doctors in France are typically working in less-skilled positions (for example, as interns) with significantly lower salaries. Mattoo, Neagu, and zden (2005)and zden (2005) refer to this phenomenon as a brain waste in their recent study of U.S.immigration. They find that theextent of the brain wastethat is, the difference in the skillcontent of a migrants job versus that of a native of the destination country with similar education and experiencevaries according to origin country characteristics and U.S.immigration policies.

2. Reasons of brain Drain and its impact on the homecountry

2.1 Economic reasons of brain Drain

In addition to several legitimate political reasons including peace and security for himself and his family, a highly qualified professional chooses to leave his own country for another for economic reasons such as, job satisfaction, academically progressiveenvironment, better pay and service conditions, a higher standard of living, etc. Throughout

history, countries and centres of academic excellence which offer these attractions havereceived the largest numbers of professional migrants and these have, in turn, madesubstantial contributions, not only to the economic growth of their host countries, but alsoto the scientific and technological advancement of humanity. On a global level, the freemovement and interaction of highly skilled people is a positive thing. But, the cost to the

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home countries of losing their professionals is incalculable in terms of both developmentopportunities and loss of investment (Oyowe, 1996).

2.2 Lack of financial and academic resources

Foreign countries, especially the United States and those in Europe have been green pastures for scientists, engineers and doctors because payment at home is negligible incomparison. The education system in most countries in the Islamic World is not welldeveloped hence many students leave for further studies abroad and most never come back since they get job opportunities as they study abroad. Poor Islamic countries do not havegood institutions to continue postgraduate study. These countries also lack the variety of subjects to specialize in. People in poor Islamic countries think that a degree from adeveloped country is better than one taken in their homeland.

There is no doubt that more and better opportunities in the US are one of theattractions to moving there. For researchers, it means funding. The reasons most often citedfor brain Drain of scientists and researchers, along with higher salaries are more resourcesin terms of research infrastructure and support, a bigger critical mass of researchcollaborators and a reduced teaching load. The reasons for this deteriorating environment inthe Islamic countries are a lack of core funding for native universities compared to USinstitutions and far greater charitable support of university alumni in the US.

Most of the Governments in the Muslim World have not invested much for thedevelopment of science and technology in their countries. Nevertheless, a ray of hope can

be seen in some of the countries where efforts have been made in the right direction andsignificant results have been obtained. Thus, among the top 25 most productive institutionsin the Islamic world , 10 are in Turkey, 5 in Egypt, 3 in Saudi Arabia and 2 in Malaysia.The three most productive institutions which contributed higher number of papers belong toTurkey and are: University Hecetteppe (8979 research papers), University of Istanbul (6488research papers) and Ankara University (5982 research papers). The three most productivescientists of past ten years are: Fun, HK (729 research papers) of University SainsMalaysia, Ng,SW (530 research papers) of University Malaya and Shamsipur M. (322research papers) of University of Tehran (Naim and Atta ur Rahman, 2005).

The past five year trends in scientific productivity reveal that with the exception of two or three countries the rest of the countries have not established or strengthened their research institutions. There seems to be individual efforts in some countries such asPakistan and Iran. But these efforts are not likely to bear a significant impact on theeconomy unless majority of the research institutions are strengthened with qualifiedmanpower, equipment and have access to the latest scientific literature and information

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systems. Particularly important are the literacy levels of the population and the creation of linkages between research organizations and the Industrial sector (Naim and Atta ur Rahman, 2005).

An interesting correlation of scientific productivity with economic competitivenesshas been observed. States which have made maximum contribution to international researchsuch as Turkey, Malaysia, Iran and Saudi Arabia have also experienced growth in their exports. In most OIC countries however, economic activities are based on extraction andexploitation of natural resources rather than use of knowledge and technology for valueaddition. Only Turkey and Malaysia have managed to achieve diversification in their economies i-e a gradual shift from resource based to knowledge based production of products and processes (S.T.K Naim and Atta ur Rahman, 2005).

2.3 Role of political will in the prevention of brainDrain

The reasons for the deteriorating environment are the weaknesses we are still confronting in various areas of governance which need to be given a strong priority and commitment on the part of the Governments in the Islamic World. There is a dire need in

some OIC countries to promote and practice good governance by stemming out corruption, conflicts and tribal clashes. It is necessary to ensure unbiased and uniformdistribution of resources to make certain political stability. Diplomacy should be given atop priority to resolve conflicts rather then going in conflicts or wars to decidedisagreements. Ensuring good governance would result in a better political stability andencourage professionals to stay in their home countries.

2.4 Lack of high class universities:

Science and Technology is an area that has not been fully exploited by mostcountries in the Islamic world as compared to other areas like Agriculture and defence,which are more developed. They have not invested on education, science and technologyand hence lack enough infrastructures and high class universities to encourage science andtechnology in their countries. Also, research is at a low level and has not been highlighted.If science and technology including Information Technology were to be encouraged,

financed by governments and developed, it would open up a wide range of opportunities for highly skilled and professional people and this would encourage them to stay in their homecountries.

2.5 Natural problem: Migration among the developedcountries

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The exodus of scientists from European countries continued in the 1950s and 1960s,as the U.S. poured billions into defense-related research and created magnetic clusters of scientific excellence, staffing them with the world's best minds and prompting Britain'sRoyal Society to coin the term brain Drain. America's investments laid the foundation for the tech booms of the 1980s and 1990s, which drew yet more entrepreneurial Europeanswestward. Europe's bureaucracies, rigid hierarchies and frustrating scientific fragmentationalso pushed people away, as they still do to this day.

One of the measures to prevent Brain Drain taken by Europe was to establish world-class research centers, such as the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) inGeneva, where the World Wide Web was invented, and the Heidelberg-based EuropeanMolecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), where 1995 Nobel laureates Eric Wieschaus andChristiane Nsslein-Volhard did their fruit-fly genome research. The idea was to providegood scientists excellent research facilities and environment at home to prevent their migration to USA. But complaints like the presence of some anachronistic system inFrance, in which control is centralized and researchers must run a bureaucratic obstaclecourse, whether to buy expensive equipment or order basic office supplies still forcescientists and researchers to move to United States.

2.6 Political and social factors

Specialized literature on Brain Drain indicates political and social factors ascrucial in shaping the trends and defining the flow regulation of migrantions. Theknowledge and excellence prosper in a congenial environment and without political and

social stability and pacifying internal conflicts, wars, tribal clashes etc we may not beable to provide the required opportunities and environment to our talent. Hence, thebrain will continue to Drain as people will leave their home countries in search for abetter life abroad.

2.7 Poor status of science and scientists in thesociety

There is a high incidence of poverty in most Islamic countries. This has been caused by famine, drought, ignorance, wars and financial instability, which has resulted in poor

standards of living and this has forced professionals to run away to developed countries.The poor economic situation in most Islamic countries has resulted in mass unemployment, poor wages and salaries, shortage of opportunities for business activities and heavy taxationwhich has been the main causes of brain Drain. Countries in the Islamic World are poorlydevelopment hence categorized as third world countries. Thus, these lack of facilities,resources, technology, infrastructure and opportunity to harness the human capital available

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in these countries, which results in many seeking opportunities abroad where facilities areavailable and technology advanced. The scientists and researchers are no acceptations.They have a poor status in their home countries.

2.8 Lack of intellectual challenge to promisingscientists/Lack of challenging culture

The competitive spirit found among scientists and researchers in Europe andAmerica is all together absent in the laboratories and research institutes in most Islamiccountries. Furthermore, the scientists and researchers do not pose any academic challengeto each other and whatsoever is discovered or found is accepted as such. Moreover, the principal of reward for performance does not exist when viewed in the context of the entire

Muslim world, though isolated, independent efforts may be cited in this regard.In the US, young people, who prove they are good, get many opportunities,

including perhaps the freedom to run their own labs. But, in the rest of the world, theyusually have to work for an older professor for at least ten years before they get a chance.

3. Strategy for preventing brain-Drain from OICcountries

3.1 Harnessing the potential

Key to socio-economic development of OIC countries lies in harnessing the wholerange of creative capabilities, potential of high level manpower and its optimum utilization.Ever persisting brain Drain continues to deprive the countries of expertise and skills of themost talented men and women who have chosen to settle abroad. The existence abroad of alarge number of professionals has been a concern to the Governments, as it constitutes aserious Drain on the manpower resources available for development. A majority of analystsconsider that brain Drain is an exodus of human capital and, therefore, a curse for homelands. There are costs which may reduce growth of countries by:

- Reducing productivity of colleagues, employees, and other workers because

they lose the opportunity for training and mutually beneficial exchanges of ideas,

- Affecting key public services with positive externalities, such as education andhealth

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- Reducing opportunities to achieve economies of scale in skill-intensiveactivities,

- Losing return on high-skilled workers trained at public expense,

- Increasing the price of technical services,- Losing the contributions of high-skilled emigration to improving governance

and the quality of debate on public issues, encouraging education of children,and strengthening the administrative capacity of the state

- Aggravating the poor investment climate and limiting the potential

Within the top ten trainee producing countries, the highest rates of return to countryof origin (100%) were trainees from Indonesia, Peru, and Thailand, but each of thosecountries had a small sample of trainees relative to the top ten countries. Within the top ten

trainee producing countries, the lowest return rates were trainees from China (31%) andIndia (64 %) (see Figure 1).

Figure 1.

3.2. Develop national strategies and policies

The migration of skilled people is one of the major threats to their economicdevelopment, some measures have already been taken to reduce or convert the brain Draininto gain. In general terms, the migration policies aim at improving the management of

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international migration by both labor-exporting and importing countries. The main purposeof migration management is to improve the developmental impact of internationalmigration. So far, it appears that the member countries covered by the case studiesrecognize that they have not adopted comprehensive written migration policies. However,the institutions established at governmental level, including at ministerial level, should takesome initiatives and programmes to reduce the negative impact of brain Drain. These programmes may include some of the following elements:

- Improvement of working conditions in public sector,

- Investment in research and development,

- Identification of job opportunities for educated migrants,

- Permission of dual nationality,- Facilitation of the portability of social insurance benefits,

- Provision of adequate information on migration opportunities

- Cooperation with destination countries

3.3. Research and development culture

As Science and Technology are fundamentally important for a nation to keep pacein the race of development, Muslim countries should promote cooperation and interaction

in these areas. Muslim countries should put their joint efforts in order to develop their technological know-how in the productive areas of their economy and initiate some basicresearch if possible. This will help reducing the brain Drain of the talented scientists fromtheir countries.

For capacity building to be most effective, researchers must return to their countryof origin. There they should be able to use their new skills to conduct relevant research, toapply appropriate research findings to policy decisions and ideally train others. Evaluationof existing training facilities in the region and formulation of training programmes for building up highly-skilled scientific and technical manpower should be done.

This may address the following:

- Designing of programmes to strengthen the scientific, engineering andresearch and development institutions,

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- Survey of problem areas faced by member States in technology, andtechnology assessment for individual member States and facilitatingtechnology transfer

- Promotion of goal-oriented research projects, including joint research programmes; promotion of scientific projects of economic and/or commercial values contributing to the development plans or projects of themember countries,

- Exchange of science and technology information through designatedcenters and institutions working as a network

- Strengthening of scientific cooperation through institutional linkages,exchange of scientists and holding of collaborative seminars andconferences on major science and technology issues

- Identification of elite science and technology organizations as focal points

3.4. Development and strengthening of institutions

There is in general a great need for strengthening Scientific and Technologicalinstitutions especially in human, financial and institutional capacities, particularly in thelight of new challenges and opportunities in the area of movement of natural persons. AtOIC level, the cooperation for building the capacities for dealing with issues related to brain Drain may be given priority. Among others, this requires strengthening IslamicEducational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), OIC Standing Committee for

Scientific and Technical Cooperation (COMSTECH), ISESCO Centre for Promotion of Scientific Research (ICPSR) by enhancing existing programmes and initiatives. Member countries should promote science and technology to bring the Muslim nations at par withadvanced nations. OIC countries should endeavor to promote rapid industrialization,strengthen the agricultural sector, and provide adequate health care for all, including therural population. Accordingly, besides strengthening existing arrangements, it is importantto explore ways and means for launching a new initiative in order to implement the specificrecommendations on brain. This arrangement may be conceived in the form of a federationor union of national specialized migration organizations. It will serve as a platform for discussing migration and brain Drain issues and building consensus on questions related tothe movement of persons both at regional and international levels.

Further, there is need that efforts at the international level should be stepped upto tackle the problem of brain Drain which is eating up the resources of the developing countries without any significant contribution to their own economic development. IOMis an inter-governmental body comprising 116 member States, highly decentralized and

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service oriented. As an important international organization for migration, IOM should playits role in the international community to:

- Assist in meeting the growing operational challenges of migration Management

- Advance understanding of migration issues

- Encourage social and economic development through migration

- IOM provides for the orderly transfer of migrants, refugees, displaced persons,and others in need of international migration services

- Help developing countries meet the need for highly-skilled manpower

- Periodically, IOM should provides a forum for discussion on migration anddevelopment

3.5. Development of technological capabilities

The overall deficiencies are apparent in weak S&T infrastructures, distorted policyimplications, inadequate allocation for S&T research, lack of attention on enterprisedevelopment and absence of linkages between research institutions and industry. All thisadds up to underutilization of even the available scientific and technological capability. Ontop of all this, it is not realized that scientific and technological research employed judiciously, in tandem with economic plans, can bring about remarkable economicdevelopment, the advantages of which, if allowed to filter down can bring about equallyremarkable human development. It is high time now that this deficiency in economic planning is rectified. To be able to do so, effective strategic measures for technologicalcapability building must be initiated by each country. For this purpose, no single documentcan serve the purpose of all the countries. Each country, necessarily, has to develop its own plan of action.

Research institutes obviously play an important role in technology acquisition andinnovation. In a number of Islamic countries excellent research institutes have beendeveloped. These should be strengthened both for basic and applied research. The difficultyis that most of these institutes work in isolation of industrial enterprises. For a long time,the ratio of applied to basic research has been debated. There is no rule of thumb todetermine the ideal ratio. Much, of course, will depend on the state of preparation of thecountry for entry into the mainstream of industry and the sophistication level of theindustry. Those countries which intend to enter the industrial production sector whereknowledge intensive technologies are involved would need to invest more in basic research.Clearly, basic research constitutes a steel-frame on the edifice of which applied researchcan be mounted. The priority of the research institutes and universities should not be only

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to train manpower but also to serve as engines of development. This would require achange in the mission statement written for these institutions. The governments of Islamiccountries in devising policies for building technological capability must carefully choose programs which may help develop linkages of these institutes with industry. A better prepared private entrepreneur can provide the much needed financial support to institutionsinvolved in "innovations and development" research. An equally positive role can be played by venture capital (private or public). To begin with the initiative should originate inthe public sector with an eye on knowledge-intensive industries.

3.6. Removing impeding obstacles:

Most of the Islamic countries need to examine carefully, the obstacles which canimpede S &T development. The obstacles can take various forms.

First. it is not advisable to draw comparisons with developed countries.They are leading the third technological revolution. In the process a newtechnical paradigm has developed - which means that this knowledge is notavailable for sharing with developing countries.

Second. if the Islamic nations at this stage think of "high technology" then itmust be realized that these are highly capital intensive. The National ScienceFoundation of USA has categorized, those technologies as high tech in which

R&D expenditure represents 10% of the value added per product. In 1990, theexpenditure on these industries (pharmaceuticals, office equipment, electricaland electronic equipment, aerospace, missiles and satellites) in the US was 23%of their revenues (as against 7.5% for industry as a whole).

Third. The development of S&T manpower has a long gestation period -and requires high amounts of public and private finance. This obstacle, however,disappears, if investment on education is considered as the building up of humancapital with high private and social rates of return, the added advantage beingthe building up of technological capability, if the quality of education is right

and at the tertiary level is enterprise directed. Fourth. Whereas building up a national technological capability isimportant, yet not much can be achieved without international cooperation.Even within Islamic countries such opportunities are abundant and are rapidlyon the increase. This may call for integrating

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research development plans under the umbrella of the OIC organizations(ISESCO and COMSTECH).

Fifth. The development of enterprises may not be left unattended. A

conscious effort should be made to introduce directional incentives for promotion of enterprise functions in desired areas of technology. This would befacilitated if linkages of enterprises with research institutes and universities areassured.

Sixth. In some Islamic countries, very substantial amounts of money are

used for the purchase of Defence equipment Technological capability buildingdemands that a portion of these funds is diverted to R&D. Defence research hassignificant technological spin off for use in other upstream or downstreamindustries.

4. Various useful attempts at international level toarrest the brain Drain

4. 1. ICTP, Trieste, Italy

The idea of the establishment of the International Center for Theoretical Physics(ICTP) was presented in early 60s by Prof. Dr. Abdus Salam, the Nobel Laureate fromPakistan. The Center was established in 1964 in Trieste (Italy) as an administrative part of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) under the United Nations. Its main purpose is to provide training and research opportunities to scientists of the third worldcountries. Scientists from the developing as well as from the developed countries

participate in the activities of the center which provided them an opportunity to interactwith world class experts of the advanced countries. Scientists find an opportunity to interactwith their counterparts from various countries, exchange their experience and views. Theylearn from each other experience and from the international experts at ICTP. The Center particularly focuses on the training of young researchers from the developing countries toenable them to play effective role in the development of science and technology in their

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respective countries. This, on the one hand, facilitates scientists to attend scientificactivities at ICTP and return home with renewed enthusiasm to carry out research and thusattaining the inspiration to prevent their migration from their home countries to advancedcountries. The establishment of ICTP in Trieste Italy was a measure of preventing BrainDrain from the developing countries.

As regards the extent of activities of the Center, it is estimated that at an average5000 (five thousand) scientists, mostly from developing countries, take part in variousactivities of the Center each year. Since its establishment in 1964, 100,000 (hundredthousand) scientists from 170 countries have participated in the research activities of ICTP.The Center library has holding of over 64000 books, 443 current print subscription andapproximately 3500 e-journals. With the implementation of a variety of programmes, ICTPhas played a great role in reducing the migration of scientists from the developingcountries.

4.2. CERN

CERN is the European Organization for Nuclear Research. It is a joint centre of 12countries as the Founding Countries in 1954. It is the world largest particle physicslaboratory. One of the driving forces to establish it to prevent Brain Drain from Europe toUSA by taking following measures:

To provide facilities and better working environment to scientists withinEurope

To pool up human and financial resources of EuropeTo attain excellence in scientific research

To utilize International Intellectual resources

Since its inception in 1954 CERN has done a great job in preventing the flight of scientists from Europe to America. It has provided full time job opportunities to about 3000 people. 6500 scientists and engineers from 500 universities of 80 countries have conductedresearch on particle accelerators of CERN labs. CERN has six main particle accelerators.Currently it is building the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). This accelerator will start

functioning upto 2007. It will generate large amount of data in elementary particle physicswhich will be conveyed to various labs world wide for processing. The accelerator is aunique facility aiming to find the existent of Higgs Particles to these elaborate experiments.

CERN has been quoted as an example of regional efforts to stop Brain Drain fromEurope to USA. The OIC countries must try the same technique by developing high techcenters including the emerging technologies, such as Stem Cell Research and Nano Science

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and Technology etc. The Centers may not be necessarily on the scale of CERN but theyshould apply latest research tools and techniques. These should be properly managed tocreate conducive and challenging research environment. If properly planned and managedsuch centers will prove useful to arrest Brain Drain from the OIC countries. The expertisethus available would be usefully utilized for the development of S&T in the Islamiccountries. The Centers may attract the experts who have migrated abroad thus resulting inBrain Gain in addition to the prevention of Brain Drain.

4.3. Setting up of OIC Centre for S&T

Though ICPSR has been established to promote scientific research and if strengthened and supported adequately it may help to promote culture of scientific researchin the Member States, however, ICPSR is not meant to provide facilities for conductingscientific research. For research purposes, the OIC countries need to establish a Center onthe pattern of ICTP and CERN to pool up the human and financial resources of its member states. The Center should place on its panel renowned scientists from the OIC countries aswell as other developed countries of the world. The Center should evolve advisory panelsand active working groups in various disciplines, specially the new emerging technologies,relevant and important to the socio economic development of the OIC countries. It shouldalso introduce an extensive Associate-ship scheme for young sprouting scientists to enablethem to strengthen and polish their expertise for the development of science and technologyin the OIC countries. It should maintain strong liaison for bilateral activities with other scientific organizations else where in the world. This will provide an opportunity to thescientists and technologists, particularly the young ones, in OIC countries to utilize their potentialities for the development of science and technology in the OIC countries in generaland the countries of their origin in particular. Scientists, who find better workingenvironment, financially and academically, at the OIC level will be encouraged to work for their own countries instead of going to Europe, USA or other advanced countries.

5:Examples of brain Drain from OIC countries

5.1 Pakistan Scenario:

For the last five decades, the migration of highly-skilled Pakistanis has been aconstant phenomenon. According to the available data, Pakistan is classified as moderatelyaffected from brain Drain. However, the highly-skilled migration rate increased by morethan 50 percent from 6.1 in 1990 to 9.2 in 2000. Pakistan is one of the member countrieswhich is considered to have benefited from the migration of its people through remittancesand involvement of its eminent expatriate professionals.

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5.1.1 Migration driven by poverty and unemployment

The causes of migration of Pakistanis are not very different from those for other member countries. Principally, it is the prevalence of poverty, unemployment and

underemployment which causes migration. Therefore, the migration of Pakistanis is drivenmostly by economic reasons. However, in the case of the migration of highly-skilled, thereare some other factors which induce migration such as a perceived lack of opportunities for different professionals to develop professionally and low salary scales.

Pakistans social economic indicators lag behind some other developing countrieswith same level of per capita income. In 2004, Pakistans population was estimated at 152million with an annual growth rate of 2.4 percent. The latest figures estimate the labour force to be around 46.82 million of which 43.22 million is employed and 3.6 million isunemployed and unemployment rate stands at 6.8 percent. The unemployment rate is

highest among the 15-19 age group (around 13.2 percent) and lowest in the 35-39 agegroup (2.9 percent).65 The unemployment for people with tertiary education (Bachelor degree and above) is 6.5 percent.

Poverty remains a serious concern in Pakistan. Poverty rates, which had fallensubstantially in the 1980s and early 1990s, started to rise again towards the end of thedecade. A large segment of the population lives in poverty. According to the surveyconducted in 1999, about 17 percent of the population was living below US$ 1 a day and 73 percent of the population was living below US$ 2 a day. More importantly, differences inincome per capita across regions have persisted or widened. Poverty varies significantly

among rural and urban areas and from province to province, from a low of 24 percent inurban Sindh to 51 percent in rural Sindh. Underemployment, together with unemploymentin Pakistan is very significant. The effects of poverty and underemployment are reflected inthe migration realties of the country. Two studies conducted in 1986 and 1987 in Pakistanshowed that the migrants belonged to the low or lower-middle income groups and not fromthe poorest sections. Another study based on a survey of 300 migrant and 300nonimmigrant households in a high and a low out-migration district in Pakistan showed thatwhile income levels, asset base, level of education, and access to information regardingemployment opportunities abroad, recruiting agencies and migration networks were themain pre-conditions for migration, this was true for households falling within a certainrange or band of socio-economic strata determined primarily by their asset base. Thehouseholds in high migration district, owned small subsistence agriculture farms and wereheavily dependent on non-farm employment for their livelihood, whereas the households inlow migration district, owned large agricultural farms depending mostly on agriculturalincome. The migrant households in high migration district were in a vulnerable situation of

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struggling to keep at the current levels of their livelihoods and hence migration providedthem the opportunity to improve their livelihoods and asset base considerably.

5.1.2. Factors explaining migration of highly-skilled

The migration of highly-skilled Pakistanis is motivated mainly by low salary scalesand other perceived lack of opportunities in their professional careers. Specifically, themotivations to migrate among the highly-skilled people include comparative monetary benefits, lack of research and intellectual development infrastructure, quality of life, perception of better prospects for their children, and conducive environment.

One of the important factors behind the acceleration of brain Drain is low income athome. Naturally, skilled and educated people expect reward of their hard work of studiesand labour, but the absence of it make them feel disappointed. For instance, the value

placed for a scientist with an advanced level degree in Pakistan is with a salary eveninsufficient to meet the basic requirements of a family.

This low salary scale is often regarded as the major factor driving migration amongthis group to the developed countries with better incentives and opportunities for educated people. In addition to low economic incentive, promotion process in Pakistan is consideredto be rather slow. In the case of Pakistan, professionals who are going abroad also consistof a significant number of government servants and those belonging to the scientificcommunity. These are the people who complain about the casual attitude of society towards professionals, particularly scientists.

An important determinant of the international migration of scientists and technologyexperts is the inadequate availability of resources to conduct research and higher salarylevels for researchers in recipient countries. At present, the provision of required resourcesfor scientists such as, a research infrastructure and research grants is very poor. This,among other reasons, is a result of an average annual expenditure on education from 1997-98 to 2001-2002 of a mere 1.7 percent of the GDP.

5.1.3. Recent migration trends

Although systematic statistical information on migration in general and migrants in particular is not available, the government has reasonably reliable figures on migrants of allcategories. There are two ways in which Pakistanis leave their country i.e., they either go toa foreign country for employment or they go as students. People proceeding abroad for employment have to register themselves with the official agency called Bureau of Emigration and Overseas Employment of Pakistan. The government also has a state-managed agency, namely, Overseas Employment Corporation (OEC), which promotes

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employment opportunities for Pakistanis abroad and supplies manpower to foreigncountries. Table 1 shows the stock of Pakistani migrants by region in 2004.

Table 1 : Stock of Pakistani Migrants by Region, 2004

As

shown in the above table, Middle East countries account for more than 45 percent of totalstock of Pakistani migrants, while OECD countries constitute the main destination withmore than 52 percent of the total stock. However, the above figures do not include thosePakistanis who went abroad as students and did not return afterwards. According to some

estimates of the overall stock of expatriates, there are around 7-8 million Pakistanis livingabroad. Concerning the annual outflows of Pakistani migrants for employment purpose,these have averaged 123,651. As indicated in Table 2 , the total outflows fluctuated duringthe period 1995-2004. Similarly, the outflows to Middle East countries followed the same pattern with a share exceeding 96 percent during the same period.

Table 2: Regional Trends of Migration Outflows from Pakistan, 1995-2004

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Generally, the available statistics show that while outflows to OECD countries arerelatively stable, outflows to the Gulf countries tend to fluctuate from year to year. For example, the number of Pakistani workers who proceeded to Kuwait increased from 440 in2001 to 12,087 in 2003 and then declined to 6,895 in 2005. Likewise, whereas 18,421Pakistani workers proceeded to U.A.E in 2001, the number increased to 61,329 in 2003 anddeclined to 47,441 in 2005. About 90 percent of workers proceeding for employmentabroad to the Gulf countries are from semi-skilled to low skilled category.

Pakistan migration data is also classified according to skills levels into highlyqualified, highly-skilled, skilled, semi skilled and unskilled. Table 4.4 below shows that theoutflow of highly-qualified migrants increased from 1,292 in 1995 to 3,291 in 2004.However, the share of highly-qualified migrants remains low at around 1.9 percent in 2004.

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Migrants in this category include those with either minimum tertiary education (a bachelor degree) or very high level of tertiary education, such as Master holders, Ph. D. holders andvery specialized education similarly, from 1995 to 2004.

The outflow of highly-skilled Pakistanis has been on the rise from 7,681 to 15,557.In 2004, the share of highly-skilled migrants was around 8.9 percent of total migrationoutflows. These people have tertiary education but may or may not hold very advancedtertiary education. Migrants in this category include secretaries, mechanics, nurses, etc.

Table 3 : Migration Outflows of Pakistanis by Skills Category, 1995-2004

By professional category, engineers constitute the largest segment in the totaloutflows of highly-qualified and highly-skilled migrants during the period 2001-1005. Ascan be seen from Table 4, besides engineers, Pakistan has also experienced important lossesof managers, accountants, doctors and nurses.

Table 4: Highly-Qualified and Highly-Skilled Pakistani Migrants by

Professional Category, 2001-2005

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According to the official standpoint, the present level of brain Drain in Pakistan isnot alarming. The consequences of the highly-skilled migration of Pakistanis for thegovernment are, therefore, mostly positive and include gains from remittances andknowledge and skills transfer through eminent Pakistani expatriates.

The desire of the Government of Pakistan to increase the standard of its higher education and benefit from its highly-qualified people settled abroad is reflected in themandate, policies and programmes of the Higher Education Commission (HEC). Under theaegis of HEC, foreign faculty members of Pakistani origin are encouraged to come andteach and transfer their expertise to the teachers and researchers in Pakistan and researchinstitutes. To this end, HEC has launched a number of schemes to offer both permanent andshort term employment to foreign faculty members in different public universities of Pakistan. These programmes help in skills and knowledge transfer where those prominentscholars who have gained skills, tools and Converting Brain Drain into Gain in Pakistanintellectual capacity from teaching and research abroad to transfer their skills to Pakistaniteachers and students. In short, the phenomenon of brain Drain can be reversed and turnedinto an advantage if mechanisms are put in place to benefit from the foreign trained professionals. According to HEC, the response to their programmes has been very goodthough no accurate data on the return of these faculty members are available. Foreignqualified Pakistanis with PhDs and post-doctorate have returned on both permanent andshort term basis thus elevating the standard of higher education in the country. As early2006 about 250 Ph.D expatriate have returned to Pakistan during past couple of years under the HEC Foreign Faculty Programme.

5.1.4. Transfer of knowledge through expatriatenationals (TOKTEN)

In order to benefit from the expertise of eminent Pakistani professionals settledabroad such as, scientists, doctors, and academicians, UNDP funded TOKTEN is beingimplemented with the following main objectives:

To identify and mark key manpower occupations according to scarcity andrelative importance for national development.

To arrange for collection of basic personal data and details regarding professional attainments and work experience of talented persons.

Forward the personal data forms to Overseas Employment Corporation in order to meet the demand of International labour market.

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To publish the inventories of high level manpower of various disciplines for user organizations such as Federal Ministries/Divisions/Provincial Governmentsand organizations working under them including research institutions.

To reduce the impact of brain Drain through short duration visits of expatriateconsultants to Pakistan.

To create a system whereby outstanding Pakistani experts serving abroad areenabled to make an effective contribution to our technical assistance needs.

To benefit from the advice of the experts while they are abroad throughcorrespondence and supply of pertinent technical literature.

During the last 23 years of TOKTEN implementation in Pakistan, more than 700expatriate experts have completed their assignments under the programme. These expertshave been instrumental in building the capacities of private and public institutions through

trainings, workshops, symposia, curriculum development, the introduction of new coursesand donations of essential books and equipments. Since the introduction of TOKTEN up to2003, 834 consultancies had been carried out in various fields of specialization i.e., 257 inApplied Sciences, 204 in Medical Sciences, 192 in Natural Sciences, 132 in Social Sciencesand 49 in Agricultural Sciences. Out of these, 427 consultants came from USA, 145 fromCanada, 116 from U.K., 24 from Germany and 18 from Australia and 104 from rest of theworld. Recently, the National Talent Pool (NTP) has prepared a Project Document entitledVisits of expatriate Pakistani consultants for short duration assignments in Pakistan in linewith UNDP funded Programme TOKTEN which has been approved by the Government. Inview of the importance of TOKTEN Programme and its usefulness, it is planned to enhancethe number of visiting overseas Pakistani Consultants under Programme with Governmentfunding by 30 - 35 per year. Pakistans experience with the migrants workers has been a positive one.

Converting Brain Drain into Gain in Pakistan by adopting policies and programmesaimed at countering the negative impact of the loss of human capital. Although the existing policies and programmes need further improvement, this experience may be shared byother labour-exporting member countries.

5.2. Brain Drain in Egypt

In Egypt, small-scale emigration that took place in mid 1960s comprisedexclusively of highly- skilled individuals, notably teachers, mainly to Iraq and the Gulf states. Also, during the 1960s emigration was authorized for the purpose of post-graduatestudy principally in the US and Europe. Many of these students did not return. Combinedwith other forms of highly-skilled migration, this raised concerns at the loss of skilled

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individuals. Studies of international emigration in the 1960s were sponsored by theGovernment to explore the potential negative effects of brain Drain. Most of these studiesreached neutral or cautiously positive conclusions as to the impact of emigration.

The macro-structure of the economy plays a key role in inducing people to migrate.Rigid employment structure and limited job opportunities, low wage levels and economic prospects are factors that may help explain migration intensity. Egypt continued to havehigh unemployment rate coupled with over population and increasing number of universitygraduates. Egypt is characterized by rapid population growth. In less than 30 years, Egypts population had almost doubled. As of January 2003, Egypts population was about 70.5million. The annual population growth rate is around 2 percent. Associated with rapid population growth is a high level of unemployment. The Central Agency of PublicMobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) estimates unemployment at about 10.3 percent in2004, which is slightly lower than the previous year due to increase in labour force by 2.6 percent. Among other macro-structural push factors for migration are the existence of bureaucratic civil service structure (administrative overlapping, lack of sufficient financialresources), and the existence of an inadequate educational system

There also exist some macro-structural pull factors at destination countries. Whenlooking at two sets of countries of destination for Egyptian migrants, one finds that Gulf countries, and more generally Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries, are preferred countries of destination and the reason appears to have more to do with historicalmigration legacies. On the other hand, Egyptian migration to OECD countries is mostly permanent due to open immigration policies. USA, Canada, Australia and UK are preferred

destinations. Some of individual characteristics such as the migrant's age at the time of emigration, level of education, and occupation also play a role in the decision to migrate.The 1986 CAPMAS survey (CAPMAS,1987) indicated that Egyptian migrants wereexclusively males (97%)

To better understand the experience of Egypt, a typology of highly-skilled migrationcomprising the brain Drain as well as brain export is adopted. Both types are manifestedthroughout migratory history of Egypt. Distinction here is made between permanent andtemporary brain Drain which are reflected upon below.

5.2.1. Permanent brain DrainThe mid-1950s witnessed the beginning of Egyptian awareness of the role of

migration as a labor distress mechanism for the increasing over-population. However, untilmid-1966, the state imposed restrictions on the migration of technicians and skilledworkers. After some of those restrictions were eased, after the war of 1967 most graduatestudents with scholarships, or studying at their own expenses, were tempted to stay abroad due to

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unfavorable economic conditions at home. This was the start of the Egyptian brain Drain. Thetotal number of permanent Egyptian migrants in non-Arab countries was about 1.4 million(CAPMAS, 2005). The breakdown of this figure is shown in Table 5. Majority of permanentEgyptian migrants are concentrated in seven countries: USA, Italy, Canada, Australia, UnitedKingdom, France and Germany which represent 92 percent of total permanent migration.

Table 5 : Stock of Permanent Egyptian Migrants by Receiving Country, 2002

S o ur ce :

Emigration Sector: Ministry of Manpower and Emigration, 2002

United States is the favorite destination for permanent Egyptians migrants; itaccounts for 46 percent of total stock of permanent Egyptian migrants. USA attracts thehighest number of the highly-qualified. Out of the total migrants during this period USAattracts 30 percent of those with PhD degree and 53 percent of those with Master degree.

During the last three decades, flows of temporary migrants to neighbouring Arabcountries exceeded permanent migration to Europe and North America. The total number of Egyptian temporary migrant labourers in Arab countries was about 3.34 million. As can be seen in Table 6, most of the demand for Egyptian labour comes from Saudi Arabia,

Libya, Jordan, Kuwait and UAE. Migrants to these countries comprise 96 percent of thetotal number of Egyptian migrant labourers in Arab countries.

Table 6 : Stock of Temporary Egyptian Migrants by Receiving Arab Countries,2002

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Source: Emigration Sector Ministry of Manpower and Emigration, 2002

From 1980 to 2005, the programme was able to attract 443 Egyptian expatriatesfrom North America, Australia and Europe, which are the major destinations for permanentmigration. The TOKTEN programme is not involved in attracting Egyptian expatriates inthe Gulf. The Academy of Scientific Research and Technology in Egypt estimates thenumber of Egyptian migrant experts to be 2,515 which represents only 0.3 percent of total

permanent Egyptian migrants. According to the Academy, the number is very small butwhen one looks at the quality of these experts and the role they can play in the developmentof their country of origin, the loss is significant. Table 7 gives the distribution of theseexperts according to their field of specialization. Engineering and social sciences are thedominant fields of specialization.

Table 7: Distribution of Permanent Egyptian Migrant experts according to Specialization.

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Source: Academy of Scientific Research and Technology .

5.2.2. Some steps taken For brain Drain

Although migrants remittances constitute important contributions to the economyof the sending country, this has to be balanced against the loss of skilled scientists or younger workers. Many studies had lamented the loss of Egyptian scientists and universitylecturers and highlighted the negative impact of such migration on the quality of educationat universities. On the other hand, the prospect of higher wages through emigrationstimulates the acquisition of human capital. This effect can be stronger than the direct effectof emigration. A brain Drain may, therefore, actually enhance growth in the sourceeconomy. Some Egyptians point out that migration of the most gifted Egypts scientistsenables them to be more creative and innovative, because of better research environment,and some obtained highest recognition such as Ahmed Zewail who won the 1999 NobelPrize in Chemistry, which is a source of pride for Egyptians and for the Islamic world atlarge.

5.2.3: Laws, policies and programmes

The Emigration and Sponsoring Egyptians Abroad Law no. 111 of 1983 is regardedas the main migration law in Egypt. The Law grants migrants the right to

retain their Egyptian nationality along with the nationality of the country of destination. It is stated that a temporary Egyptian migrant is an Egyptian citizen, not a

student or seconded worker, who stays abroad for one continuous year. Article 4 of theEmigration law states that a Higher Committee for Migration will be set up and headed bythe Minister concerned with emigration affairs. Later the committee was formed byResolution no. 2000of 1997 but there is no indication about its effectiveness yet.

5.2.4: Liberal migration policy

Some of the policies, intended for some specific economic purposes, encouragemigration. Egypts general policy may be viewed in this regard as it has labour export

strategy, which includes intended and unintended brain Drain to Western countries. The

Emigration Sector is exerting efforts to open new overseas markets for Egyptian labour.Some of the labour migration bilateral agreements were signed by Egypt. Some of theseagreements have already lapsed, others have occasional or irregular contact and some areactive and expanding such as, the one associated with the Integrated Migration InformationSystem (IMIS) Project.

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5.2.5. TOKTEN Project

The Transfer of Knowledge through Expatriate Nationals (TOKTEN) Programme isadministered by the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology. The programme

started in 1980 and was funded by UNDP. Between 1992 and 1994,the Government of Egypt and UNDP shared costs of the programme. Since 1995, the program became fully-funded by the Egyptian government. From 1980 to 2005, the programme was able to attract443 Egyptian expatriates from North America, Australia and Europe, which are the major destinations for permanent migration. The TOKTEN programme is not involved inattracting Egyptian expatriates in the Gulf. The Academy prepares two catalogues for theTOKTEN programme. The catalogue of demand which includes a list of host organizations,and a roaster of experts of Egyptian origin known as catalogue of supply. The Academyestimates the number of Egyptian migrant experts to be 2,515 which represents only 0.3 percent of total permanent Egyptian migrants. According to the Academy, the number isvery small but when one looks at the quality of these experts and the role they can play inthe development of their country of origin, the loss is significant.

5.2.6. Integrated migration information system project(IMIS)

The IMIS began in June 2001 as a result of collaboration between the EmigrationSector of the Egyptian Ministry of Manpower and Emigration, the Italian government asthe donor partner and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) as theimplementing agency. The main aim of IMIS is to develop the tools and capacities to allowthe Egyptian government to better understand and respond to the emigrant community andthus maximize the benefits of emigration. It is essentially a capacity building exercise,restructuring the Emigration Sector to enable improved coordination between the Egyptiangovernment and the Egyptian expatriates, though it also provides a number of concreteoutputs through a website which came online in October 2003. To get inspiration, the IOMhad organized a tour for some Emigration Sector staff to the Philippines, which accordingto IOM is a successful case of IMIS

5.3. Brain Drain from Middle East & North Africa

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The aggregate migration numbers from the Middle East and North Africa to theOECD countries is dominated by several countries. Figure 2. presents the number of migrants in OECD labor markets from the countries in the region. The largest sourcecountries are Turkey (close to 2m workers in the OECD labour force as of 2000), Morocco(slightly over 1m), Algeria, Iran (both around 500 thousand), Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon andTunisia (each around 250 thousand). It should be emphasized that the figure is on alogarithmic scale otherwise these large source countries would visually dwarf the smaller countries. The overall number of migrants has increased by 40% - but this naturallyincludes the children of the migrants who were born in the destination countries and whoare considered migrants in most of the EU countries. Smaller countries have experiencedmore rapid increases in their migration. Among the larger source countries, the exception isIraq due to the political instability.

Figure 2.

As expected, countries with larger populations have also large number of migrants. Another measure of migration is the migration level as a ratio of the native labor force. The situationis somewhat different in this figure where Lebanon and Morocco stand out. The Lebanesemigration is clearly linked to decades of political instability as well as the historical

integration of the native population with economic centers of Europe. This makes migrationrelatively easy for Lebanese citizens compared to other countries from the region.Moroccon migration is also linked to the relatively low cost of migration to France andSpain due to historical links and geographic proximity.

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In the brain Drain debate, one of the key factors used is the ratio of the educatedmigrants within the migrant population. One striking fact is that the tertiary educatedmigrants are a small portion of the overall migrant population especially in large migrantsending countries such as Turkey, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia. For example, 10-15% of migrants have tertiary education in Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria as of the year 2000. On the other hand, more than 50% of migrants to OCED countries from other countries, including Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan have tertiary education. Thereare several reasons for this difference. First, migrants with low levels of education frommany of the wealthier countries, such as Kuwait, have no reason to migrate since there are plenty of employment opportunities in their own countries. Second, unskilled migrantsfrom other larger countries (Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan) migrate to the Gulf countries. As aresult, the figures capture high levels of educated migrants from some countries to theOECD (The Gulf countries, as well as Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon) and relatively high levels of

unskilled migration from the other countries (Turkey and North Africa).5.4. Brain Drain from Turkey

The brain Drain issue has received considerable attention from the Turkishresources as a serious economic and social problem, particularly in the aftermath of theeconomic crises of November 2000 and February 2001. In the earlier 1994 crisis, TurkeysGNP had declined by 6.1 percent. Although this was a record contraction at the time, theeconomy recovered quickly in the following year and recorded a positive growth rate of 8.0 percent. The 2001 economic crisis, however, was much more severe and GNP contracted by 9.4 percent, which is the worst growth performance in the history of the TurkishRepublic. The recent crisis has affecting also university graduates on a much wider scale(Isigiok, 2002). Even graduates of the prestigious universities in Turkey, who usually face better than average prospects in the labor market, were affected. The perception of the brainDrain as a serious problem has increased following each crisis, and has also attracted theattention of national authorities. In 2000, the Turkish government decided to form a jointtask force of experts from the Turkish Atomic Energy Agency, the Turkish Academy of Sciences (TBA) and the Scientific and Technical Research Council (TBITAK), in order to investigate Turkeys brain Drain problem (Cumhuriyet, 2000).

According to Ministry of Education statistics, a total of 21,570 Turkish studentswere studying abroad with their own means in mid -2001. Two-thirds of these studentschose universities in Western Europe and North America, while a significant proportion (22 percent) also chose the Turkish republics in Central Asia as study locations. The majorityof private students are pursuing undergraduate studies and nearly 90 % of them are male.This gender gap also persists at the postgraduate levels of study, being slightly higher in the

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technical fields in comparison to the social sciences. In addition to private students, thereare several thousand government-sponsored students who are studying abroad, most of them at the postgraduate level as part of the goal of training academicians to fill positions instate universities. The great majority (90 percent) of the government-sponsored students arestudying in the United States and Great Britain. Various factors have been cited asimportant for student non-return, including political instability, lower salaries and lack of employment opportunities in the home country when studies are completed, as well as a preference to live abroad. In addition to these factors, several other features of Turkeys political economy are considered to be important in explaining the Turkish brain Drain.These include the lack of a national research and development strategy, distortions in theeducation system and foreign language instruction in schools, all of which have importantlabor market consequences (Kaya, 2002).

According to a recent Higher Education Council report (YK, 2001). The highschools in Turkey, which currently take three years to complete, do not provide adequatelabor market preparation for their students. The report indicates that the main reason for the demographic pressures exerted on the Turkish tertiary system is the fact that highschool graduates who are unable to get into college or university lack the knowledge andskills necessary to earn a livelihood The lack of in-firm training programs on a wide scaleis also believed to aggravate this problem. As a result, university education is seen as animportant means for training students and imparting the skills that are critical for securing jobs. Several empirical studies show that investment in higher education, compared to theother schooling levels, earns a very high private rate of return for both men and women in

Turkey Furthermore, these studies also point to significant regional differentials in the ratesof return to education at all levels. While university education provides a high private rateof return in all regions, both developed and underdeveloped, the highest returns are, notsurprisingly, found in industrialized districts where the three metropolises, Istanbul, Ankaraand Izmir serve as centers of attraction. The regional disparities in the private gains fromeducation as well as the greater educational opportunities have created a massive rural-to-urban exodus. This has, in turn, exacerbated the regional disparities within Turkey, creatingsquatter settlements with high levels of poverty. While unskilled workers show a highdegree of mobility within the domestic economy, highly educated workers show a highdegree of international mobility. The uneven development of the Turkish economy withdisparities at many levels including education, wages, and employment has created thecurrent conditions, leading to both unskilled internal migration and brain Drain to other countries. Economic development and rapid population growth have increased enrolmentsat the primary and secondary levels of schooling, which, in turn, has generated a growing public demand for higher education. In response to these demand pressures, the number of universities increased from a total of eight prior to 1970 to seventy-one at the beginning of

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1998. The expansion of public and private universities is continuing at a rapid pace today.This is an important step toward the creation of a centralized and unified higher educationsystem that at the same time entailed a compromise in autonomy for individual universities.The new 1982 constitution also included a provision that allowed non-profit foundations toestablish higher education institutions. The newly established private university system inTurkey has succeeded in attracting talented foreign and Turkish academicians from abroad by offering competitive wages and state-of-the-art equipment and facilities. On the other hand, private universities charge tuition fees that are generally out of the income range of amajority of Turkish families, although they provide scholarships to exceptional candidatesscoring high on the national placement exam. Enrolments at the private universities arelower than for the state universities partly because these universities promise a lower student to teacher ratio, but more importantly because families find the tuition andeducation costs prohibitive. Thus, while private universities have partially reversed the

academic brain Drain to other countries, they have not eased the demand pressures on thehigher education system. Relatively few students are able to take advantage of theopportunities provided by the private universities in Turkey. Those who can afford the hightuition fees come from a higher socioeconomic group, and this serves to aggravate ate theexisting problem of unequal opportunities in education.

Despite the rapid increase in the number of both private and public universities andthe removal of quota restrictions in distance education programs, only a third of allcandidates taking the entrance exam in 2001 could be placed in a higher educationinstitution, including distance education. A significant number of those who are placed in

higher education programs do not enroll. Many students, for example, who qualify for thedistance education program choose not to enroll and instead wait to take the exam thefollowing year in order to be placed in a regular university program. Similarly, those whodo not qualify for the more prestigious universities or their desired programs also wait before enrolling. Ministry of Education statistics indicate that only about a third of allstudents taking the university placement exam are final year high school students; manyothers take the exam several times in order to be placed in their desired program or school.There are significant disparities in the quality of higher education in situations as well. Thesharp rise in the number of higher education institutions after 1980 has sparked the quantityquality debate in higher education. It is claimed that the quantitative expansion of universities has occurred at the expense of quality, which is measured in part by indicatorssuch as student-teacher ratios, and the physical resources devoted to teaching and research(Senses, 1994). The public and private resources devoted to higher education have not keptup with the expansion in enrolments, institutions and programs, and there appears to bechronic understaffing in terms of student-teacher ratios, especially for the stateuniversities .Academic staff at state universities also receives salaries that are far below

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those of the private universities. Like the wages of other civil servants in Turkey, thesalaries of academicians in state universities are set by legislation and they have not kept upwith inflation. The February 2001 economic crisis has made the situation worse by morethan halving the value of the academic salaries at the state universities. There is indicationthat moonlighting and extra teaching activities to supplement incomes are becoming more prevalent (Cumhuriyet, 2001). Such a trend will undoubtedly have dire consequences for research-related activities, and inevitably lead to the loss of some the best researchers to private and overseas universities. The quality gap, both perceived and real, at the universitylevel also has important consequences for university graduates entering the labor force inTurkey. The quantitative expansion of universities, with little regard for quality, has yieldedgraduates with diplomas that appear to have little value in the Turkish labor market. For example, the most lucrative jobs in the labor market are offered to the graduates of a smallnumber of universities with well-established reputations. The signal value of obtaining a

diploma from one of these institutions, therefore, creates immense competition among highschool students for getting acceptance to the more prestigious universities. It is alsointeresting to note that almost all of the private universities, most of which have beenformed after 1995, have adopted English as the language of instruction in order to attractstudents, because the job market strongly favors candidates with fluency in at least onemajor language. Against this backdrop of the labor market conditions and career prospectsthat students are likely to face in Turkey upon graduation, we turn to the return intentionsof Turkish students studying overseas at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

5.4.1. Reasons for returning and the time frame of

returnFor about three quarters of those who indicated that they will be returning, reaching

academic and work experience goals was marked as an important reason for returning( Fig 3 ).This was followed by missing their family while abroad (61 percent) andchildrens education (23 percent).

Figure-3 : Return Reasons for Those Indicating Them Will Return (n=780)

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Figure 3

Return reasons do not show significant variation between male and femalerespondents, although for male respondents military duty is another reason for returning.

With regard to the time frame of returning, the majority did not have immediate plans for return: about one third have indicated they will return within 2-5 years, while another onethird intends to return within 5-10 years.

5.4.2. Work intentions after completion of studies

The United States was the most popular work location immediately after thecompletion of their studies for more than half (60 percent) of all respondents, whereas onlyabout one quarter chose Turkey as their work destination. The remaining, in general, chosecountries in the West. There appears to be a tendency for choosing a location that is already

familiar. The majority of those studying in Canada, for example, indicated Canada to betheir immediate work location. Language also appears to be a deciding factor whenchoosing a work destination. Respondents who have had German language instruction athigh school, for example, also have a tendency for choosing German-speaking countries or regions, such as Germany and Austria.

5.4.3. Types of organizations and activities afterstudies

The majority (73 percent) of those who intend to return to Turkey after completingtheir studies indicate that they will start work in a university, and the great majority will beworking (85 percent) in a public (or national) university. A shortage of academicians persists at higher education institutions in Turkey. In 1995, the number of positionsavailable at these institutions was pretty much balanced by the supply. In 2000, the number of academicians fell short of demand by 19,000. This gap is projected to widen further to35,000 in 2005 (SPO, 1995, 2000), since the proliferation of higher education institutions inTurkey since the early 1990s has increased the demand for higher education employees.Close to one half (45 percent) of those who indicated that they will most likely be workingin United States believe they will be working as employees in the non-educational privatesector, while 36.7 percent indicated that they would be working in a 4-year higher

education institution. The remainder expect to be employed in a non-profit organization,international organization, or be self-employed. The great majority of those who expect to be working at a four-year educational institution indicated they will work in a privateuniversity. Of those who expect to be working in the non-educational private sector, 25.3 percent indicated they will work in US-based private firm, and 19.7 percent in amultinational corporation. The majority of those who will be working in a public university

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believe that their main activity would be teaching (48.3 percent), followed by appliedresearch (30 percent), basic research (14.5 percent), and development (3.4 percent). For respondents who indicated that they will be working in a private university, the majority believe their main activity will be applied research (43.2 percent), followed by basicresearch (27 percent), teaching (27 percent), and development (2.7 percent). Therefore, wemay conclude that students who expect to be working in a public university, also expect to be involved more in teaching activities than research, while those who plan to work in a private university believe their activities will be research-oriented. Further, some of thosewho intend initially to work in a public university are intending to move to a privateuniversity within five years.

6. Some useful measures to prevent brain Drain

Among OIC countries various efforts have been made whereby steps have beentaken to provide S&T attractions which could help minimizing the brain-Drain from OICCountries. Some of the organizations in OIC countries which have been taking some usefulmeasures in this matter are:

6.1. Islamic Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization (ISESCO)

The Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization -ISESCO- was set up by virtue of Resolution No. 12/10-C of the Tenth Islamic Conference of Foreign Ministers,which was held in Fez, Kingdom of Morocco, in May 1979. The Statute (Charter) of theIslamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was adopted by the EleventhIslamic Conference of Foreign Ministers, which convened in Islamabad, Islamic Republicof Pakistan, in May 1980, and the member States were called upon to joint and supportISESCO in the Third Islamic Summit Conference. The Founding Conference of ISESCOwas then held in Fez, Kingdom of Morocco, on 9-11 Rajab 1402A.H./ 3-5 May 1982. Oneof the prime objectives of ISESCO, under its Charter, is to develop applied sciences anduse advance technology within the framework of the lofty and perennial Islamic values andideas. ISESCO has exerted tremendous efforts, under its various Action Plans to promotescientific and technological development in the Member States. A large number of

initiatives were taken in this regard like creation of parliamentarian forums to divertattention of highest authorities towards promotion of knowledge base of the society and totake necessary action for scientific and technological development at the highest level, theAcademy of Young Scientists was created to promote active participation of youth inscience activities, applied research was stimulated through fostering interaction betweenresearch laboratories and industry, scientific and technological policies were promoted at

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national and regional levels through provision of assistance in formulation andimplementation with a view to mobilize scientific and technological resource to advanceknowledge and support sustainable development and joint sponsorship of international,regional and national scientific events in various areas of science and technology in order tosolve specific problems and cater the need in order to build up the capacities of the Member States for promotion of science and technology.

One of the prime actions by ISESCO was the implementation of the strategy for Development of Science and Technology in the Islamic Countries, which was elaborated incollaboration with the Organization of Islamic Conference Standing Committee onScientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH). The Strategy was approved bythe Eight Session of the Islamic Summit Conference held from 9-11 December, 1997 (9 to11 Shaban 1418H) in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran. The implementation of strategy is being pursued actively by all concerned. One of the important actions under the strategy is prevention of brain Drain in the Islamic countries. This action is in synergic action with theIslamic Cultural Action in the West which was adopted by the 9th Islamic SummitConference convened in Doha in the State of Qatar in November 2000. In the light of thisIslamic Cultural Action ISESCO took various measure to deal with brain Drain or migration of competencies including studies and analysis and drafted a clearly definedstrategy for benefiting from migrant Muslims in the West in the light of latestdevelopments in the Islamic world and the requirement of comprehensive development.This strategy was endorsed by the Tenth Islamic Summit Conference, held in Malaysia in2003. This document is a part of ISESCOs action to take care of scientific and

technological competencies in all the non-member States including West as well as to adoptmeasures to prevent brain migration.

6.2. ISESCO Center for Promotion of ScientificResearch (ICPSR)

The scientific community in the Member States, in various forums, had demandedon the need for establishment of Centre at the Islamic Ummah level to take care of promotion of scientific research which was one of the weakest areas of scientificdevelopment in the Member States as compared to whole world. Absence of adequate

facilities of high quality research was also one of the main causes of migration of theresearch scientists to other Member States. In order to comply with the desires of thescientists and scholars, the First Islamic Conference of Ministers of Higher Education andScientific Research: Towards Mechanisms for the implementation of the Strategy for theDevelopment of Science and Technology in the Islamic Countries, held on 15-18thOctober, 2000, at Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, recommended to establish an Islamic

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Center for Promotion of Scientific Research (ICPSR), the Second Meeting of theConsultative Council finalized the

The establishment of the ICPSR was finally approved by the Second Ministerial

Conference and subsequently the Tenth Session of the Islamic Summit Conference held inPutrajaya, Malaysia from 20 to 21 Shaaban 1424H (16-17 October 2003), finally approvedits establishment. ICPSR was established at the Headquarters of the Islamic EducationalScientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) in Rabat, Kingdom of Morocco. ICPSR isactively involved in promotion of advanced studies and scientific research in all fields of science and technology for sustainable economic development in the Islamic countries.ICPSR is providing a permanent forum for the elite researchers from the Islamic world inall disciplines of science to meet each other, exchange knowledge, address commonconcerns and develop and supervise realistic programmes for achieving excellence inscientific research. One of the prime tasks of ICPSR to upgrade the research facilities of theresearch centre and centres of excellence to bring it at par with international standards. Itenvisages upgrading research centres and establishment of new centre of excellence invarious scientific fields of the international level required for conducting high levelresearch. It is envisaged that promotion of research especially through strengthening thecentres of excellences in various scientific fields will encourage a culture of scientificresearch and innovation in the OIC countries which will help to

Documents

Brain Drain Final ISESCO 1