Competing for Global Talents
Recent literature on globalization and international academic mobility has noticed the ability of individuals – especially highly-skilled personnel with marketable expertise – to move freely in the international labour market (Saxenian, 2002), and therefo
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20. COMPETING FOR GLOBAL TALENTS China’s Brain Gain Strategies
INTRODUCTION: GLOBAL COMPETITION FOR TALENT
Recent literature on globalization and international academic mobility has noticed the ability of individuals – especially highly-skilled personnel with marketable expertise – to move freely in the international labour market (Saxenian, 2002), and therefore the intensified worldwide competition for “brain gain”, i.e., governments’ “attempts, efforts, programs, and projects aimed to draw scientific workers to a given country” (Jalowiecki & Gorzelak, 2004, p. 299). The competition for global human capital starts with international tertiary students and scholars. These individuals are often seen as globally mobile resources and intangible asset that enhances a nation’s global competitive advantage, given that they could be some of the most highlyqualified people in any given country, and thus a vital component of human capital, providing the knowledge and skills on which nation states rely for their economic development (Kuptsch & Pang, 2006; Root, 2007). Due to worldwide educational inequality, developed countries possess advantages that attract talented academics from developing countries (Frank, 1980; Inkeles & Smith, 1974; Wallerstein, 1974, 1984). Between 1999 and 2004, four Western developed countries hosted 56% of the world’s mobile students – the United States (US, 23%), the United Kingdom (UK, 12%), Germany (11%), France (10%); whilst the largest group of mobile students comes from East Asia and the Pacific Rim (701,000, or 29% of the world total) (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2007). In recent years, however, Asia is competing with the West for global talents. Certain countries in East Asia and the Pacific – including Australia, Japan, and New Zealand – that have become more attractive to students from that region and are now among the top host countries for Asian students (UNESCO Institute for Statistics, 2009). Some Asian countries and regions, such as South Korea, Singapore, and Hong Kong, have attracted scholars from around the world (Altbach, 2004; Johnson & Regets, 1998; Postiglione, 2005). Many developing countries have set up programs to entice some of their brightest people to return from abroad in that they might contribute to domestic development, in particular in new and competitive areas such as computer technology, economics, biotechnology, and other hi-tech businesses (Engardio, 1994; Zikopoulos, 1991). To remain competitive, developed countries such as the US and Canada are also enacting brain gain policies, including relaxing student visa S. Guo & Y. Guo (Eds.), Spotlight on China: Chinese Education in the Globalized World, 341–357. © 2016 Sense Publishers. All rights reserved.
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and immigration laws, making it easier for foreign students to remain in the host country after graduating, and offering incentives to lure highly-skilled professionals (Root, 2007). Similarly, policymakers in OECD countries have become increasingly concerned with policies and mechanisms designe
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