Education and labour migration in Solomon Islands: Policy interaction between the education system and the labour market

<p>Education is considered, in every sense, as one of the fundamental factors of development. No country can achieve sustainable development and economic growth without a systematic education system. Education raises people’s productivity and competency to build a strong economy and society. Many different development theories have influence and inform education systems in many countries in different ways. Solomon Islands’ education system has shifted from traditional knowledge to Western oriented style of learning influenced by different development ideas, modernisation, capitalism and globalisation. Traditional knowledge existed for many generations before the introduction of Western education system. The transition period encountered more policy setbacks, rejection of traditional knowledge and incoherent policy models. These transformations happened in the political spheres, social ideas and economic system, influenced by the modern education system. Today, Solomon Islands’ economy and population are largely diverse across the country. The recognition of alternative opportunities available through diverse economies model by Gibson-Graham will help national policymakers to see different education priorities and development needs. Even with the rapid change in the state’s modern machineries, political system and institutions, more responsibility and cooperation is required to tackle the relation between education, migration and development. Education must empower people of ages and market levels to realise their full potentials by becoming an effective instrument to provide an answer for linking education, migration and development. The policy dialogue and discussion must open despite many agreements and disagreements.</p>

Education and labour migration in Solomon Islands: Policy interaction between the education system and the labour market

<p>Education is considered, in every sense, as one of the fundamental factors of development. No country can achieve sustainable development and economic growth without a systematic education system. Education raises people’s productivity and competency to build a strong economy and society. Many different development theories have influence and inform education systems in many countries in different ways. Solomon Islands’ education system has shifted from traditional knowledge to Western oriented style of learning influenced by different development ideas, modernisation, capitalism and globalisation. Traditional knowledge existed for many generations before the introduction of Western education system. The transition period encountered more policy setbacks, rejection of traditional knowledge and incoherent policy models. These transformations happened in the political spheres, social ideas and economic system, influenced by the modern education system. Today, Solomon Islands’ economy and population are largely diverse across the country. The recognition of alternative opportunities available through diverse economies model by Gibson-Graham will help national policymakers to see different education priorities and development needs. Even with the rapid change in the state’s modern machineries, political system and institutions, more responsibility and cooperation is required to tackle the relation between education, migration and development. Education must empower people of ages and market levels to realise their full potentials by becoming an effective instrument to provide an answer for linking education, migration and development. The policy dialogue and discussion must open despite many agreements and disagreements.</p>

Brain circuity: The case of South Africa as a hub for doctoral education

The production and reproduction of knowledge are important components of national development. As student mobility increases, globally and within Africa, so does the national diversity of students as they seek to further their postgraduate studies at the limited number of research universities in Africa. Knowledge migration is inevitably a relationship between nation states because migration is driven by push factors (such as the socio-economic conditions and opportunities) in the country of origin as well as by pull factors (such as the rules and incentives for entry, participation in postgraduate education and post-study residency), which are prerogatives of the host nation. In other words, migration and development must be understood in comparative terms. The brain drain perspective on migration and development takes mainly the perspective of the origin country into consideration. Migration and the loss of high-level skills are seen as detrimental to the development prospects of the country of origin. The brain circulation perspective moves the discussion forward by suggesting that there are residual returns to the country of origin. However, relatively little attention has been given to the impact of knowledge migrants on the host nation when the host is facing its own post-colonial development challenges. This is the dilemma facing South Africa as a hub for doctoral students from the rest of Africa: attracting top doctoral students from the rest of the continent to contribute to the country’s knowledge capacity but at the expense of developing local talent, thereby setting up a complex tension between underdevelopment and development. Here we establish whether South Africa is maintaining its position as a PhD hub on the African continent and explore the extent to which the brain circulation argument holds up in the African context. We suggest that, given the current policy environment in South Africa, brain circuity is a more likely outcome, where brain circuity describes the flow of knowledge characterised by indirection and undesirable intricacy.