There is an emerging
sense of “the world becoming a single place” according to Lechner (2001) and
this is due to the phenomenon of globalization, which 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. Such a movement results in several repercussions and
one of them is international migration. In particular, it causes brain drain on
the country from which people are leaving, and it 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 nations. 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 transverse the world has become
alarmingly fast in the recent years. This is supported by the rising trend of
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 their own 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 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 its citizens. The method of deferring or
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.
All along, many
countries have embraced globalization due to its extensive advantages. While it
has benefitted the majority economically, some others are being left behind in
this inevitable race. One of the reasons accountable for this is a 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, 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 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 create yet another set of labour problems.
Furthermore, the wage differences will probably not be significant enough to
reverse the situation. Hence, rather than to spend the government funds on
increasing wages or providing better incentives, it would be more justly spent
on providing higher standards of education for its people, which would in turn 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 eventual
slowing down of the situation.
All in all, although
globalization causes several repercussions, it will be unwise to retard this
process given the advantages that it brings. 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. In order to tackle the problem at its root, the provision
of high standards of education would be a long-term solution. This is to create
a larger pool of highly skilled citizens, so as to minimize the impact of brain
drain. In this way, more people of this globalized world will be able to
benefit hugely from this phenomenon.
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.
Lechner
F., 2001. World Culture Theory. The Globalization Website. Retrieved from
http://sociology.emory.edu/faculty/globalization/theories03.html
The
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2013. Statistics
for Migration. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/statistics/.
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