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Bringing brains back
Primarashni Gower, Mail & Guardian (SA)
October 12, 2007

Heads of Universities and their senior staff will converge in Tripoli, Lybia, later this month to discuss issues under the theme, "The African Brain Drain—Managing the Drain: Working with the Diaspora". This is the biennial conference of rectors, vice chancellors and presidents of Africa universities of the Association of the African Universities (AAU).

The conference will look at how higher education institutions, "the primary producers of the 'brains that drain'", manage to gain access to networking abilities within the Diaspora, which consists disproportionately of their alumni. It will focus on the features, challenges, advantages and problem of this particular sector and the initiatives and experiences they can share with one another.

According to a statement on the AAU's website, a 2006 joint World Bank and Palgrave Macmillan publication, International Migration, Remittances and the Brain Drain, international migration increased from 154-million to 175-million between 1990 and 2000. This is a phenomenon that is likely to continue in the coming decades as part of the globalization process.

The loss of highly qualified academics poses problems for the world's universities, as they adjust to an increasingly mobile and competitive market for high-skill labour. "Besides being the driving force behind emigration to other countries, the premium placed on scientific expertise and technological knowledge means that universities and other higher education institutions must compete with local industry and private research and development institutions to attract qualified staff and scientists. In addition funding cuts affecting academic infrastructure, science and technology teaching and learning materials and equipment in most developing countries drive substantial numbers of graduates and researchers out of academia to posts in the private sector," the statement says. It says this trend is accelerating as university salaries continue to fall behind those of senior managers in the private sector.

About 30% of Africa's university-trained professionals and up to 50 000 Africans with PhDs are reported to live and work outside the continent. The problem is particularly acute in sub-Saharan Africa where many countries experienced a sustained outflow of skills, especially during the late 1970s and 1980s.

Closer to home, while South African universities battle to find senior African academics, they have lost academics who hold leadership positions in the United Kingdom. Chartered accountant Professor Brenda Gourley, former vice-chancellor of the then Natal University, heads the Open Learning University, while former Wits University vice-chancellor Professor Collin Bundy is warden at Green College, Oxford. Professor Chris Brink, former vice-chancellor of Stellenbosch University, became head of Newcastle University this year.

Meanwhile, Botswana is trying to turn the tide to lure alumni back into the country to work as academics at the University of Botswana's soon-to-be established School of Medicine, which will have facilities in Gaborone and Francis town, and a second university (to be called the Botswana International University of Science and Technology).

Dr Jon Harris, operations director of recruitment company Executive Partners, says: "What is happening in Botswana is . . . a determination to do all that it can to attract back its own nationals by establishing world-class facilities and offering realistic packages. It is also anxious to avoid the need to send students overseas to study by establishing its own facilities because of the hemorrhaging effect that results when students do not return." His company is working with the Botswana ministry of education to compile a list of students who have been sent to study overseas by the government and have not returned for various reasons.

He says the government is trying to establish African "centers of excellence" that will "act as magnets for scholars from overseas to come and contribute in their own way. This way they not only address the 'brain drain' but also create opportunities to reverse the drain". He explains that the challenge is 'to locate the African academic nationals, to present the case for returning and to persuade them to take that step. Fortunately the academic world is big on networking, as its members are forever attending conferences and seminars where they can present their work and network with colleagues from elsewhere working in similar fields, so we are hoping that the word about these opportunities in Botswana will spread quite rapidly. The internet also provides great opportunities to inform and exchange information."

Furthermore, most universities have relationships or partnerships with overseas universities - they exchange staff for short periods of time, which provides an opportunity for both the academics and the institutions. In the case of the Botswana School of Medicine it has partners in South Africa, the UK, Norway, Australia and the United States, all of which provide much assistance in various ways.

The London Homecoming Revolution Expo takes place this weekend and Harris's colleagues will man two stands: one aimed at academics for Botswana and the other aimed at South African professionals, such as accountants/auditors, engineers and project managers. "We are also going to be visiting Ireland where, apparently, there are a lot of Botswana nationals working as doctors," he says.

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