International Mobility of Researchers: Benefits and Challenges Rui Yang Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong Facilitating good practices for trade and investment in higher education services in the APEC region, Regional Policy Symposium, 20-21 August 2013, Kuala Lumpur 1
Global Background Globalisation and the global shifts into knowledge economy make skills and talents amongst the most sought-after resources. The global competition for talent makes it more important to ensure an adequate supply of researchers and to create conditions for their mobility between national borders. International research mobility is encouraged at the policy levels locally, nationally and globally. The EU, for example, has proposed a significant number of measures to increase the mobility of researchers across the European Research Area to help researchers to develop their research career. 2
Defining Researchers (i) Researchers are a small subgroup of the highly skilled, but an economically important one as they produce the research that precedes the R&D developments that drive economic growth in the knowledge economy. Gathering data on the population of researchers has been difficult. 3
Defining Researchers (ii) Some studies look at the population of doctoral holders. However, not all doctoral holders move on to become researchers and not all researchers are doctoral holders. Another strand of the literature studies the elite researchers within a certain discipline. However, definition of elite varies, usually entails winning a certain award (e.g. the Nobel prize), publishing in certain prestigious journals (e.g. Science and Nature), receiving an exceptional number of citations to one s work (e.g. ISI s list of highly cited authors) or working at a prestigious institution. 4
International Research Mobility (i) Research mobility has increased remarkably in the past few years. When moving, researchers can spread and increase their human (Schultz 1990; Becker 1964) and social capital (Bourdieu 1986 and Coleman 1988). Via mobility, researchers can access to best scientific equipment and teams and improve their career prospects both abroad and in their home countries. Concerns about the loss of highly skilled human capital are also fast growing in the literature. 5
International Research Mobility (ii) International mobility is far from a recent phenomenon in the academic world. Scholars have been internationally mobile for centuries, and this has generally been considered positively both for the researcher and his/her environment. With globalisation, however, international mobility is a particularly growing phenomenon. Scholars and policy makers are increasingly interested in quantifying it. There is a growing interest in mapping their mobility patterns and understanding what drives them. 6
International Research Mobility (iii) International mobility is an important advantage for excelling in the academic profession in many fields and higher institutions. There is an expectation of mobility in research careers, depending on country and discipline. In many fields it is standard practice to pursue a postdoctoral stay abroad Indeed, after finishing the PhD. Young researchers are often lured away during their higher education years and remain in the host country upon graduation. Natural scientists have a higher propensity to be mobile, and similarly for medical researchers. 7
International Research Mobility (iv) Mobility also creates difficulties for individuals: For example, reintegration into the national research system is not always smooth in certain European countries; 10-20% of Swedish postdocs sometimes found it difficult to transfer the knowledge they had gathered abroad to their department back home (Melin, 2005). The issue becomes much more serious in non- Western societies such as Korea, Japan and Chinese societies. 8
Mobility between the Developed World (i) In today s high-tech knowledge economy, given the importance of S&T for growth and welfare, EU policy makers have been increasingly worried about their perceived outflow of scientists from the EU to other parts of the world, mainly to the Anglo-Saxon countries, esp. the US. There is evidence of an asymmetrical flow of scientists between Europe and the US: far more EU scientists move to the US than US scientists move to the EU. A large part of this migration towards the US occurs in workers higher education years, and a large fraction of students stay to work in the US later on. A non-negligible share migrates permanently, i.e. these researchers acquire the nationality of their host country. 9
Mobility between the Developed World (ii) An OECD study of doctoral holders from 7 OECD countries finds that although Switzerland and Canada have higher shares of foreign doctorates, the US remains the main destination in absolute terms (Auriol, 2007). There is very little international mobility among US doctoral holders. Stay rates of foreign doctorate recipients in the US are high (on average 66%), but vary by discipline and source country and have declined in recent years (Finn, 2005). The perceived brain drain from the UK to the US does not adequately reflect reality, as the UK is a net importer of young academic staff (at post-doctoral level) and manages to attract back highly productive academics who spent some time abroad to establish their research reputations (Bekhradnia & Sastry, 2005). 10
Andrew J Oswald and Hilda Ralsmark (2008) Studying young professors at top economics departments, they find that a considerable number come from abroad, the majority of which migrated to the US at some stage of their higher education. Respectively 75% and 13% of the 112 assistant Professors at top US economic departments received their Bachelors and PhDs outside USA. Pattern is clear: get the most talented from overseas to study at the highest level in the US and establish (and/or maintain) strongest research bases in (and for) the US. 11
Gunther Maier, Bernhard Kurka and Michaela Trippl (2007) Analysing the international mobility of the ISI highly cited over various disciplines, they find a high concentration of scholars in Western countries, especially in the US. Spatially mobile knowledge spillover agents may generate a number of side effects that lead to a more complex picture than the simple brain drain-brain gain dichotomy. The term brain circulation seems to be more adequate for describing the effects of the mobility of knowledge spillover agents. As for the spatial distribution of highly cited star scientists as identified by ISI HighlyCited.com, there is a strong concentration of star scientists in the highly industrialised countries and in the US in particular, with significant differences between subject categories regarding mobility and spatial concentration. Mobility patterns are strongly oriented toward the US, and contribute to an increase in the spatial concentration of star scientists in all subject categories. 12
Grit Laudel (2005) Using a broad definition of elite scientists including winning the Nobel prize and publishing in Science and Nature, Laudel points out that it is usually not the established elite scientists that move, but the young, potential elite. Migration is field-specific, occurs more among potential, rather than among established elites, and policies aiming simply at eminent scientists may prove inadequate to the task of sustaining national scientific communities. The elite brain drain works in the direction, and to the advantage of the USA. Migration to the USA occurs less often when scientists are already elite members. It is the potential elite rather than the actual elite that move and recruitment into the elite appears to turn mobility into migration at the same time. 13
R.S. Hunter, A.J. Oswald and B.G. Charlton (2009) Focusing on the movement and productivity of elite scientists, they find the mobility of elite scientists is remarkable: nearly half of the world s most-cited physicists work outside their country of birth; migrate systematically towards nations with large R&D spending; movers and stayers have identical h-index citations scores. Immigrants in the UK and US now win Nobel Prizes proportionately less often than earlier. US residents h-indexes are relatively high. Elite researchers are especially mobile, and tend to concentrate in a few places, notably in the US. 14
Ahmed Tritah (2008) Looking at brain drain between knowledge-based economies only, Tritah studied European emigration to the US. Since 1990, emigrants are increasingly selected from the upper tail quality distribution of their source country workforce in terms of education, scientific knowledge and, unobservable skills, while returnees are fewer, older and less educated. The brain drain reflects the weakness of demand for skilled labour in Europe. Technological changes triggered by human capital losses could make these outflows increasingly costly for Europe in terms of productivity. 15
Andries de Grip, Didier Fouarge and Jan Sauermann (2008) Analysing migration of graduates from science and engineering studies from 9 European countries, they find that not only wage gains are driving the migration decision. Differences in labour market opportunities related to R&D spending are a strong predictor of future migration. Past migration experiences are related to a higher probability of labour migration. Strong evidence of selective migration: the best graduates are most likely to migrate. Qualitative aspects of the job match such as the utilisation of skills in the job and involvement in innovation hardly matter in the decision whether or not to migrate. Wage level affects migration towards countries in continental Europe, whereas Anglo-Saxon countries seem to attract migrants due to their larger R&D intensity. 16
A. Van Heeringen and P. A. Dijkwel (1987) Based on empirical data of Dutch scientists, they estimated to what extent the productivity of researchers is influenced by their mobility. They find that job mobility is a characteristic of productive scientists rather than a means to enhance productivity. Field mobility appears to stimulate productivity in the long run. Researchers who change jobs are on average more productive ex-ante than peers who do not change jobs. 17
Linda Ana Carine Van Bouwel (2010) Much work remains to be done to obtain a complete picture of researchers international mobility and its drivers. US PhD holders are a lot less internationally mobile. As for the personal factors that drive the decision to become internationally mobile, having a PhD from a top institution and being male significantly increase the probability of making at least one international move during a foreign researcher s career. 18
Reasons for Move (i) Alejandro Portes (1976) identifies three levels on which determinants can be situated: international economy, national social structure and individual influences and orientations. Yes, most empirical studies have focused on national (and sometimes regional) social structure and individual factors. Based on data on 1523 highly cited scientists for 1981-1999, Ioannidis (2004) observes that countries without a critical mass of top researchers are more likely to lose their best researchers to other countries, and specifically the US. 19
Reasons for Move (ii) Defining talent as individuals with high levels of human capital, measured as the percentage of the population with a bachelor degree and above, Florida (2002) finds that the economic geography of talent is highly concentrated, and strongly associated with high-technology industry location; talent and high-technology industry work independently and together to generate higher regional incomes. Nirmala Kannankutty and Joan Burrelli (2007) observe that the primary reasons for immigrant scientists and engineers to move to the US are: family-related reasons; educational opportunities; and job or economic opportunities. 20
China s Initiatives Actively participating in the international talents competition. Carrying out open talents policies to develop to make use of international resources of human talents. Strong governmental role, and top-down policies. Attracting overseas Chinese back by various means. More open policies for talents to come to introduce high-level overseas talents to work in/for China. 21
China s Improved Position Central government + local governments + state-owned enterprises and banks + universities and national laboratories. Pull factors: globally competitive salaries, better career opportunities improved research and social environment Push factors: global financial crisis 22
Taking Advantage of Financial Crisis ( 抄底人才 )? The global financial crisis has hit developed countries and their universities and research institutions hard, with some research programs cut back. China continues to increase spending on science and technology. Some Chinese state-owned enterprises and banks tried to recruit talents from Wall Street and other multinational corporations. 23
Local Governments Unlike the central government s interest in top scientists and engineers, local governments are keen to attract entrepreneurs, esp. those in high-tech industries. Local governments have been effective in promoting returnee entrepreneurship in high-tech industries such as internet, IT, communication, media and new energy. By February 2009, China had established more than 110 overseas returnee entrepreneurship incubation centers, with over 8,000 enterprises and 20,000 returnees, mainly by local governments, even at county level in rich areas, such as Changzhou in Jiangsu province. 24
Trans-local Networks There are also intergovernmental efforts to create trans-local networks for overseas returnees, such as the Association of China Returnee Entrepreneurship Parks comprises 41 high-tech parks from Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and some other cities. Initiated by governments in different cities, such networks have an explicit purpose of fostering closer relationship among hightech parks in different regions. 25
Policy Trajectory In 2001, first special chapter on human resource development was included in the 10th Five-Year Plan. In 2003, first national conference on human resource development, and established the Central Group for the Coordination of Talented Personnel headed by the Central Organisation Department to recruit global talents. 26
Earlier Programs China has been actively recruiting global talents since the 1990s, particularly targeting overseas Chinese. The Chinese Academy of Sciences initiated the 100-Talents Scheme in 1994 The Ministry of Education initiated the Yangtze River Scholar Scheme in 1998. 1998-2006, among a total of 1,107 Yangtze River Scheme scholars, 94% had overseas work or study experience. (still in place): the Chinese Academy of Sciences 100-Talents Scheme and the Ministry of Education s Yangtze River Scholar Scheme attracted over 4,000 researchers in the past 15 years. 27
The New Scheme Sets the bar higher, Casts the net wider, And is helped by a number of factors: a much more generous package; improved research, business and social environment; and a larger pool of talent formed over years 28
Overseas Chinese Wikipedia: 47,679,784 (Chinese, modified on 9 Aug 2013); 47,453,244 (English, modified on 11 Aug 2013). Statistics at the beginning of the century: 39.75 m Chinese diaspora. Among them 1.63 m (4%) are highly skilled. 29
Chinese Knowledge Diaspora More than 1.2 million Chinese had studied abroad by 2007. Over 200,000 Chinese have stayed in developed countries after receiving education there, including 67,000 who have titles equivalent to assistant professor, and 15,000 equivalent to associate or full professor. By 2008, China had 1.39 million students studying abroad (14% of the global total), 390,000 had returned with a return rate of 28% 30
Focus on Chinese Diaspora China knowledge diaspora are seen as valuable assets for economic development. So far talents recruited into China are overwhelmingly ethnic Chinese, but those of non-chinese origins have begun to show interest in working in Chinese universities, research institutions and state-owned enterprises. 回国 ( 来华 ) in official documents 31
Recruitment Program of Global Experts Known (in Chinese) as One Thousand Talents Scheme. Launched by the Central Organization Department of the Chinese Communist Party in December 2008. Aims to recruit 2,000 talents of any nationality in the next 5-10 years. 32
Types of Organizations Four types of organizations are eligible to apply to recruit global talents through RPGE: National innovation projects Key scientific subjects and laboratories Central government-owned enterprises and state-owned banking institutions high-tech parks 33
Evaluation Process The Office for Attracting High Level Overseas Talent established by COD coordinates the evaluation and selection process. The Ministry of Science and Technology evaluates candidates for national innovation projects and works with the Ministry of Education to evaluate candidates for key subjects and laboratories. The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council and the People s Bank of China evaluate applicants for state-owned enterprises and banking institutions. The Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security evaluate talents with entrepreneurial skills. 34
Further Details Non-Chinese professionals and their families can apply for Permanent Residence or multiple-entry visa valid for 2-5 years. For all professionals selected by the scheme, the central government will provide each with one million RMB as a one-time subsidy in addition to their salaries, which should be comparable to the remuneration of their previous job. Professionals and their families will be able to enjoy social security benefits. Li Yuanchao, head of COD in 2007, has a stake in managing the new scheme well, which helped him to become a member of the standing committee of the CCP. 35
Effects of One Thousand Talents Scheme A national survey in late 2011 shows: 1,510 recruitments within 2 years vs original plan of 2,000 in 5 years 1,161 focus entirely on research while 349 work in companies 991 foreign citizens, while 519 holding Chinese passports 50 non-chinese 850 holding full professorship or equivalent 54% of 500 surveyed academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering think positively of the scheme. 36
Evidence of State Policy Effect 77% of the presidents of Chinese universities, 84% of the academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences and 75% of the academicians of Chinese Academy of Engineering have overseas study and/or work experience 37
Frequently Reported Problems by Returnees Much governmental attention to the introduction process while neglecting services. Too broad requirements and scope for talent selection, and loose connection with social economic development needs. Quality of introduced talents yet to be improved. Lack of top-level design and coordination, with cooperation between various governmental branches especially needed. Effective work mechanism to be improved. Financial support, tax preferences and education of children remain major headaches for returnees. 38
Institutional and Organizational Problems The non-transparency of recruitment procedure, and retrospective recognition of already-returned talents rather than actively seeking new personnel from abroad. Whether the recruited talents can have a supportive working environment where their local colleagues receive much less pay. So far ethnic Chinese have dominated talents recruited to Chinese universities, research institutes, development zones and stateowned enterprises. To fully tap into the pool of global talents, China s largest cities still have a long way to go, compared with more internationalized cities like Singapore and Hong Kong. 39
Advantages of Pursuing an Academic Career in Australia (i) Not surprising that the Chinese knowledge diaspora mainly choose where to pursue their professional career based on perceived opportunities. Most of them tend to stay within the system where they complete their doctoral studies. Advantages are obvious: In Australia, institutions have better resources and facilities in terms of research equipment, funding, and library information. Among the fifteen interviewees, two received their PhDs from North America, one each from the UK, Singapore, Canada and China, with nine from Australia. When asked about the reasons for them to come to Ivy, one female participant with a PhD from a major American university said, This is a place for family life. 40
Advantages of Pursuing an Academic Career in Australia (ii) Ivy s international reputation is also an important factor that they consider seriously in making their decisions about where to pursue their career. Often our participants cited the lack of much Guangxi (the Chinese social and cultural system based on valuing personal relationships) as another advantage of working in Australia. When considering going back to China, complicated was the word used repeatedly by the participants. Most of the complications related to family issues. Among them education for their children predominated. 41
Younger Ones with Different Calculations Although they are still working in Australia, they consider the option of going back to China to develop their career much more seriously, waiting for opportunities. When asked if he would leave Ivy for a post by China, one (30 yrs) said It depends on what kind of position it is. If it s good with better salary, I d definitely go back. Another (early 30s) remarked I have not yet decided to live and work here in Australia. For me, I m inclined to go back to China, but the point is how and when I can go back. 42
Thank you for listening! Email: yangrui@hku.hk 43