Dynamic exchange replaces brain drain

Updated on: Wednesday, April 27, 2011

China has made rapid strides in the unlikely field of higher education and is attracting several thousand foreign students every year.

Speaking of the rise of the Asian region, Rajika Bhandari, Raisa Belyavina and Robert Gutierrez in their work, ‘Student Mobility and the Internationalisation of Higher Education’, note, “While this has resulted in a somewhat smaller market share for top host countries, it is nonetheless a positive development as it has brought more countries into the field of international education and has changed the relationship between sending and receiving countries from a unidirectional ‘brain drain’ type of mobility to one of dynamic and mutual exchange.”

The trio feels the journey from being a nation which sees its scholars leave the shores for greener academic pastures to becoming a magnet for students from around the world, is a long one, fraught with challenges.

“They (the rising Asian countries) are likely to face the dilemma of how to increase the capacity of their higher education systems to provide adequate opportunities for their expanding college-age population while also accommodating incoming international students and engaging in the type of international educational exchange that is necessary in today’s globally competitive world.”

India, with about 22,000 international students, has a tough test to crack once the Foreign Education Providers’ Bill is passed. It will have to build an SOP to lure the brightest if it must transform this nation into an international classroom.

Dynamic exchange replaces brain drain

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