Why Do Foreign PhD Students Return Home?
Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: Amid concerns about a “brain drain” from less-developed to developed economies, one issue that arises is the role of doctoral students from these countries enrolling in universities in developed economies and then staying (as opposed to returning and bringing their enhanced human capital home). Developed economies may also be concerned with their young scholars remaining abroad post-PhD. Examining confidential micro-data from the National Science Foundation’s Survey of Earned Doctorates from 2001-2016, this paper explores the determinants of the return decision, based on a sample of more than 100,000. There is clear support for the view that new PhDs with large amounts of graduate student debt and limited family resources are more likely to return home. Financial considerations seem especially important in the return decision facing students from developing countries not graduating from the most elite US institutions.
Source: MIGRATION LETTERS
Author: Robert Feinberg
Institution: American University
Language: English
Topic: Migration and Labor Dynamics
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W3202541288