Reversing the brain drain from African universities

A critical challenge for higher education in Africa is 'brain drain' – losing highly trained or qualified people through emigration. In some countries, for example Cape Verde, the Gambia and Somalia, tertiary-educated migrants comprise over a half of all those leaving the country (see figure 1). Universities are left with vacant positions and the science subjects in particular are suffering.

Brain drain is driven by several factors including economic hardship, political repression, the academic burden of teaching and supervising, lack of physical, technical and virtual facilities and the financial attraction of working abroad.

Figure 1: Emigration from sub-Saharan Africa
Total migrants with tertiary education in 2000. (Larger version)

Source: Measuring the International Mobility of Skilled Workers (1990- 2000), Policy Research Paper 3381, World Bank: Washington, Frédéric Docquier and Abdeslam Marfouk, 2004

The global demand for highly-skilled and intellectual workers is making the situation worse. Whereas much research focuses on the flow of workers to developed countries, little is written about the 'internal' mobility within Africa.

Many Africans now move to find work in more attractive destinations such as Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. Countries are losing their qualified people: for example, nearly 70 percent of migrants leaving Cape Verde in 2000 were tertiary educated. As the African economy is slowly expanding, many find more prestigious work outside academia with better salaries and conditions. Moreover, private colleges – mainly teaching institutions – have attracted a lot of the university staff, further undermining one of the core missions of higher education: research.

As attempts to attract these workers back have failed, the trend is now moving towards using intellectual migrants in host countries to strengthen teaching and research back home: through graduate advising, joint research schemes, and creating networking skills and opportunities. For example, the South African Network of Skills Abroad aims to link highly-skilled South Africans living abroad and working in academic, cultural and commercial sectors.

Universities, governments, international organisations and non-governmental organisations need to form a close working relationship with intellectual migrants to reinvigorate higher education in Africa and strengthen learning and research across national institutes. Often, scholarly and professional networking efforts between home- and host-country personnel and institutions are often scattered and informal. Revitalising, supporting and strategically organising these efforts are the first important steps in the right direction.

Damtew Teferra
International Network for Higher Education in Africa, Center for International Higher Education, Lynch School of Education, Campion Hall 207 Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 USA
www.bc.edu/inhea
teferra@bc.edu