scholarly journals English and the Brain Drain: an Uncertain Relationship

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-29
Author(s):  
Christopher Houtkamp
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Solid Solutions ◽  
Brain Drain ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Skilled Migration ◽  
Linguistic Justice ◽  
The World ◽  
The Brain

Abstract In his book Linguistic Justice for Europe and the World, Van Parijs analyses in one of his chapters the brain drain from non-Anglophone to Anglophone countries, which hurts the economic development of the non-Anglophone states. Van Parijs deems it clear that English is a very important factor to explain high-skilled migration. He, therefore, urges the non-Anglophone countries to relax their linguistic territorial constraints and allow English as a communication language in many different sectors, most notably higher education and scientific research. This would remove the incentive for potential expatriate brains to migrate for linguistic reasons. This article takes a closer look at Van Parijs’ reasoning and proposed solutions. It is concluded that the assumed connection between English and high-skilled migration cannot be proven empirically for research on this topic is scarcely available. Furthermore, the solutions presented by Van Parijs will produce uncertain results at best. Van Parijs rightfully puts the brain drain problem on the political and research agenda, but much more additional studies are needed to formulate solid solutions.

The Political Economics of Population Growth: The Case of China

1971 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pi-Chao Chen
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Population Growth ◽  
Historical Data ◽  
Historical Record ◽  
The Political ◽  
High Population Density ◽  
Rapid Population Growth ◽  
The World ◽  
Simon Kuznets

Some economists argue that high population density and rapid population growth are not in themselves impediments to economic development. On the basis of a quantitative analysis of historical data, Simon Kuznets, for instance, concludes that, historically, rates of economic development have not significantly correlated, either positively or negatively, with rates of population growth. Similarly, E. E. Hagen observes that “nowhere in the world has population growth induced by rising income been sufficient to halt the rise in income. … The historical record indicates that rise in income in these societies has failed to occur not because something thwarted it, but because no force has been present to cause income to rise.

scholarly journals Intolerance of uncertainty modulates brain-to-brain synchrony during politically polarized perception

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (20) ◽  
pp. e2022491118
Author(s):  
Jeroen M. van Baar ◽  
David J. Halpern ◽  
Oriel FeldmanHall
Keyword(s):  
Political Polarization ◽  
The Political ◽  
Neural Synchrony ◽  
Neural Processing ◽  
Political Debate ◽  
Political Narratives ◽  
The World ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Video Material ◽  
The Brain

Political partisans see the world through an ideologically biased lens. What drives political polarization? Although it has been posited that polarization arises because of an inability to tolerate uncertainty and a need to hold predictable beliefs about the world, evidence for this hypothesis remains elusive. We examined the relationship between uncertainty tolerance and political polarization using a combination of brain-to-brain synchrony and intersubject representational similarity analysis, which measured committed liberals’ and conservatives’ (n = 44) subjective interpretation of naturalistic political video material. Shared ideology between participants increased neural synchrony throughout the brain during a polarizing political debate filled with provocative language but not during a neutrally worded news clip on polarized topics or a nonpolitical documentary. During the political debate, neural synchrony in mentalizing and valuation networks was modulated by one’s aversion to uncertainty: Uncertainty-intolerant individuals experienced greater brain-to-brain synchrony with politically like-minded peers and lower synchrony with political opponents—an effect observed for liberals and conservatives alike. Moreover, the greater the neural synchrony between committed partisans, the more likely that two individuals formed similar, polarized attitudes about the debate. These results suggest that uncertainty attitudes gate the shared neural processing of political narratives, thereby fueling polarized attitude formation about hot-button issues.

International Skill Flows and Migration

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Wickham
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Brain Drain ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Circular Migration ◽  
Skilled Migration ◽  
Permanent Settlement ◽  
The Usa ◽  
And Migration ◽  
Limiting Case ◽  
Oecd Data

Migrants are increasingly skilled. Historically British emigration was disproportionately skilled and new comparative OECD data shows the continuing brain drain from Europe to the USA. However skilled migration is best understood as skilled mobility not migration: permanent settlement in a destination country is a limiting case within a multiplicity of movements exemplified by the international commuting of the financial services elite. Immigration policies increasingly attempt to attract the best and the brightest. Rising mobility is driven by firms’ recruitment policies, but also by individuals’ motivations which are often non-financial. Skilled mobility is now claimed to benefit both origin and destination countries through circular migration and knowledge transfer. However, skilled mobility can also promote privatisation of higher education in origin countries and lower investment in training in receiving countries. A typology of skilled mobility suggests some forms can increase income inequality in destination countries.

scholarly journals The education skills trap in a dependent market economy. Romania’s case in the 2000s

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvana Tarlea ◽  
Annette Freyberg-Inan
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Market Economy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Prospective Students ◽  
Key Features ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Empirical Insight

We discuss the political economic development of Romania since 1989, with a focus on the evolution of higher education (HE). First, we place this evolution in the context of demand for HE by prospective students and employers, focusing on the low demand for skills in the MNC-dominated Romanian economy. Second, we provide empirical insight on indicators of quality, enrolment, and funding as key features of the HE system. We argue that Romania has evolved into a dependent market economy entrenched in a low-skills equilibrium, and that the weakness of the HE system is a key element in this process.

African Diaspora Academics

2020 ◽  
pp. 27-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tibelius Amutuhaire
Keyword(s):  
African Diaspora ◽  
Brain Drain ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
University Administrators ◽  
African Students ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Exchange Programs ◽  
The World ◽  
Foreign Universities ◽  
The Brain

Internationalization of higher education is not new to Africa. It helped in the establishment of several African universities in the continent's post-colonial period. In addition, thousands of African students had the opportunity to study in foreign universities through various exchange programs. However, internationalization has also led to African academics migrating into the diaspora in the West and other parts of the world, leading to the phenomenon of Africa's brain drain. This chapter examined the negative consequences of the brain drain and advocates its reversal by suggesting that African diaspora academics can be mobilized to help expand capacities in African universities and education in totality. It urges African governments and university administrators to provide leadership in this regard, especially by offering sufficient incentives to African diaspora academics to help revitalize and strengthen the continent's education sector.

Examining the Factors Shaping the Debate Around the Globalization of Higher Education

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vlasios Sarantinos
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Education Sector ◽  
African Continent ◽  
Colonial Legacy ◽  
The World ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
The Impact

The chapter explores the impact globalization has created for the higher education sector, looking at how the landscape evolved across the world and how the role of universities has been transformed. Extending the analysis further, there is an investigation of how institutions have tried to respond to the emerging challenges and opportunities presented as a consequence of the shifting field. The focus then moves to the African continent and peruses the particular development of higher education under the influence of colonial legacy and globalization, examining how institutions have endeavored to adapt. The chapter draws to an end with a reflection of the main issues, inherent limitations, and how the research agenda could be taken further.

IR, the Critic, and the World: From Reifying the Discipline to Decolonising the University

2020 ◽  
pp. 030582982093706
Author(s):  
Isaac Kamola
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
Scholarly Work ◽  
Disciplinary Knowledge ◽  
The World ◽  
The University

Why does IR scholarship seem so resistant to travel into other disciplinary spaces? To answer this question, I look at the tendency for scholars within our discipline to talk to the discipline, about the discipline, and for the discipline. We obsess over ‘IR’ and, in doing so, reify IR as a thing. I turn towards Edward Said’s arguments about the worldliness of texts, and how reification shapes how ideas travel. I then provide two illustrations of how scholars have reified IR as a thing: Robert Cox’s approach to critical theory and Amitav Acharya’s call for a ‘Global IR’. In both cases, contrary to expectation, the authors reify IR as a thing, portraying the discipline as distinct from the world. IR is treated as something with agency, ignoring how disciplinary knowledge is produced within worldly institutions. I conclude by looking at three strategies for studying worldly relations in ways that refuse to reify the discipline: showing disloyalty to the discipline, engaging the political economy of higher education, and seeking to decolonise the university. Rather than reifying IR, these strategies help us to engage our scholarly work in a way that prioritises worldly critical engagements within our disciplinary community, and the world.

Telling Lies, Making Truth

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa Feinberg
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nuclear War ◽  
East European ◽  
Political Function ◽  
The World ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter analyzes the political function of show trials in Eastern Europe. It argues that while show trials told lies, their primary purpose was to reveal new truths about the Cold War world to their East European audiences. Show trials described a world where the peace-loving socialist East was continually menaced by the imperialist West, which sent spies and saboteurs to wreck its economic development and plotted to destroy it in a nuclear war. These political plays told East Europeans how they should see the world and clarified the consequences of non-compliance. This chapter also examines how people around the region were required to voice their condemnation of the traitors on trial and dedicate themselves to the search for hidden enemies.

Arguments for deliberative participation in local economic development

2014 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zoltán Bajmócy ◽  
Judit Gébert
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Local Economic Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Scientific Methods ◽  
A Value ◽  
The World ◽  
The Common

According to the common sense, experts, backed up by scientific methods, describe the “possible states of the world” in a value-neutral way. Then, in the political arena, delegates build on these proposals, but also consider values and interests. The present paper attempts to revise such an understanding of local economic development (LED) and argues that many of the deficiencies deriving from such a view can be remedied by deliberative participation, which is not merely a theoretical necessity, but also a practical possibility.With regard to the issue of public participation and deliberation, the paper identifies two main approaches in the LED literature: the “political” and the “apolitical”, of which the latter is mainly characterised by economic theorising. We take a closer look at the “apolitical” approach and demonstrate that in fact it is very much political. Therefore, we call for the transgression of the borderline between politics and expertise in LED, and suggest a joint democratisation of these interrelated terrains. We argue that deliberative participation is able to contribute to the quality of both the expert proposals and the working of the politics.

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