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  • 9/20/2012

Graduate Education

From Brain Drain to Brain Circulation

Brain drain is a huge loss to the home country – but it can be avoided. If doctoral and master’s students are prepared for an international career path during their training, they are more likely to return home at some point. Universities and graduate schools can also facilitate the worldwide exchange of young researchers by strengthening their international networks. Higher education leaders from 15 countries have agreed on a set of principles to guide the preparation of graduate students for the demands of the global workforce and economy.

The TUM Graduate School offers subject specific and transferable skills training courses.

The “Principles for Supporting Global Careers in Graduate Education” include integrating international experience into graduate degree programs, defining high‐level global skills, and collaborating with external partners to stimulate multi‐directional flows of knowledge workers.

The statement was released following the Sixth Annual Strategic Leaders Global Summit,  „From Brain Drain to Brain Circulation: Graduate Education for Global Career Pathways”, jointly hosted by the U.S.‐based Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) and the Technische Universität München. The Global Summit is an annual event designed to promote international best practices on current issues in master’s and doctoral education.

This 2012 summit re‐examined the concept of “brain drain” in light of several global trends:

  • Global R&D networks, along with new technologies for collaboration, are stimulating research that benefits multiple countries and regions.
  • Many countries are making new investments in graduate education in order to maintain a strong domestic talent pool and recruit international students.
  • Evidence suggests that researchers and highly educated professionals may work in multiple countries over the course of their careers.

Session topics addressed new patterns of talent mobility by country and region, new opportunities for students to develop global skills, and collaborations between international universities that prepare students for the global workforce.

Professor Ernst Rank, Director of the TUM Graduate School und International Graduate School of Science and Engineering, explained: "In the past and to a large extent still today, many countries have seen themselves either on the side of brain gain or brain drain. The global summit clearly showed that these categories can no longer simply be associated with 'winning' or 'losing' talents. On the contrary, the globalized scientific and economic community demands circulation of brains — that is, mobility in networks, openness for exchange, and flow of minds and ideas."

CGS President Debra Stewart noted, “The principles will help advance the global conversation about a key priority for graduate schools—helping students and new researchers make the transition to successful careers. But they also take us into important new territory, providing guidelines that will help universities prepare future researchers to understand the global possibilities and impacts of their professional lives.”

The 34 participants included deans and other leaders of graduate schools and representatives of national and international associations devoted to graduate education. Along with Germany and the United States, the countries represented were: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China (PRC and Hong Kong), Denmark, Hungary, Luxembourg, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa, and South Korea.

Technical University of Munich

Corporate Communications Center

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