Does going abroad benefit my country? Views of highly skilled personnel from Sub Saharan Africa on brain drain-brain circulation

Abstract

The debate on brain drain-brain circulation has been a long-lasting phenomenon of interest among educators in the field of education, in particular, international and comparative education. This long-lasting debate triggered us to rethink about the effects which the concept has on the source country as well as the destination country. The study explored the perceptions of Highly Skilled Personnel (HSPs) residing in Sub-Saharan Africa on HSPs mobility. Respondents for this study comprised of 43 Sub-Saharan African scholars. Data were collected into two phases. First, all the 43 respondents actively participated in a four-day Online Focused Group Discussion (OFGD) moderated by the researchers. The second phase involved online interviews with 12 members who also participated in the first phase. Findings indicated that the majority of respondents favoured brain circulation. This implies a significant shift from brain drain to brain circulation. The socio-economic and political contexts of countries where respondents came from influenced their responses. We suggest that in the current globalized world, instead of restricting HSPs mobility, Sub-Saharan African countries need to create attractive working environment as a means to retain the best talents and motivate those who left to come back. Furthermore, Sub-Saharan African countries must work with diaspora to improve knowledge and business networks that will enable these countries to improve their economies thereby compensating the cost incurred in educating mobile talents. Finally, brain drain-brain circulation agenda should not be viewed in isolation rather as multidimensional in nature due to its overarching countless influencing factors.