There is an emerging sense of “the
world becoming a single place” and this is due to the phenomenon of
globalization. Globalization is a process through which the world becomes
increasingly interconnected whether economically, politically, geographically or
culturally. It involves the flow of ideas, information, goods and services
transnationally, and this is usually powered by the movement of people.
International migration becomes one of the repercussions of globalization,
amongst many others. Particularly, it leads to the effect of brain drain on the
home country, which is defined as the movement of people who are proficient in
their areas of expertise with the aim to pursue more favourable job
opportunities (Chimboza, 2012). This poses the problem of the loss of human
capital, skills and knowledge, and this will most likely hamper economic growth
and development of the nation. Possible solutions to this problem include
deferring or limiting emigration (Cohen, 1997). Alternatively, the roll-out of
government policies to provide better incentives to hold back its citizens may
be feasible as well.
Ever since the onset of
globalization, the speed at which people transverses around the world has
become alarmingly fast in the most recent years. This is supported by the
rising trend in the inflows of foreign population into developed countries such
as the United States, Britain and Australia since 2001 (OEDC, 2013). The
pursuit of higher wages, better facilities or more attractive incentives is
drawing highly educated and proficiently skilled workers towards the host
countries, thereby leaving the home country stagnant in its development. In
order to impede the outflows of people, restrictive migration policies seem to be a possible solution to this problem. Governments in some countries
place tighter controls on the outflows of its citizens through legal laws or
even bonds such as scholarships or tuition grants offered by governments. For
example in Singapore, medical students are required to undertake a service
commitment for five years with the Ministry of Health upon graduation for
Singapore citizens. The method of deferring or even to the extreme measure of
limiting emigration is however, limited in its effectiveness. The irony of restricting
its citizens when there is even greater freedom of the movement of people and
the plentiful choices of employment available in this globalized world will make one
doubtful of the feasibility of this solution. Instead, what is more beneficial
to every home country is the sharing of knowledge amongst members of this
global village, thereby leading to a brain gain. For example, professional
networks can be set up by organizations or universities to connect the global
world in a single network such as the “Supercourse: Epidemiology, the Internet
and Global Health” which links scientists all over the world to share their knowledge
(Dodani & LaPorte,
2005). Rather than to enclose
knowledge and skills within a country, it is wiser to share them amongst many
others. In this way, not only will everyone progress, but there may also be
better achievements and newer discoveries when one collaborates.
While globalization has benefitted
many countries economically, some others are being left behind in this
inevitable race against each other. One of the reasons accountable for this is
brain drain where a shortage of skilled workers stifles the economic growth since
it is widely understood that a country’s economy is being propelled by its
people. An alternative solution to this problem of brain drain, other than the
aforementioned, is the provision of better incentives by the government.
However, what seems to be a solution to the root cause of the problem of brain
drain is also futile. This is due to the increment of wages and the potential
lowering of standards in the hope of retaining the citizens, which may spin off
yet another set of problems of incompetent workers. Furthermore, the wage
differences will probably not be significant enough to reverse the situation. On
the other hand, higher standards of education of the people will be a better solution.
Education will raise the overall standards of the majority of the citizens. In
this way, the rate at which migration flows out of the country will slacken
given that the proportion of highly educated and skilled citizens increases. The
result may be the slowing down of the situation of brain drain eventually.
All in all, albeit globalization
comes with several repercussions, it will be unwise to retard this process given
the advantages that it brings along. Brain drain as a result of international
migration can eventually be converted to brain gain if international
corporations or organizations work together to create the conducive global environment
for the sharing of knowledge for the betterment of all global citizens as a
whole.
References
Chimboza A., 2012. From Brain
Drain to Brain Gain: Addressing Human Capital Needs for Post Crisis Zimbabwe’s
Capacity Building. Master’s thesis, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia,
United States. Retreived from ScholarlyCommons database,
http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=od_theses_mp.
Cohen R., 1997. Brain Drain
Migration. South African Commission on International Migration. Retreived from http://www.queensu.ca/samp/transform/Cohen1.htm.
Dodani S. &
LaPorte R. E., 2005. Brain drain from developing
countries: how can brain drain be converted into wisdom gain? J R Soc Med. 2005 November; 98(11): 487–491.
The Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2013. Statistics for Migration. Retrieved
from http://www.oecd.org/statistics/.
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