| |
Back to Index
Early
departures: The emigration potential of Zimbabwean students
Southern African Migration Project (SAMP)
Extracted from Migration Policy Series No. 39
2005
http://www.queensu.ca/samp/forms/form.html
To
apply to download this document
- http://www.queensu.ca/samp/forms/form.html.
Acrobat PDF file size is (118KB).
If you do not have the free Acrobat reader
on your computer, download it from the Adobe website by clicking
here.
Executive
summary
Zimbabwe
is experiencing a crippling flight of professional and skilled people
that has escalated to levels that have serious implications for
economic growth and development. Previous studies have discovered
extremely high levels of dissatisfaction amongst professionals with
the cost of living, taxation, availability of goods, and salaries.
Unhappiness goes deeper than economic circumstances to include housing,
medical services, education and a viable future for children. There
is an urgent need for policies to curb the massive brain drain and
offer incentives to make staying and working in the country attractive
for professionals and skilled people. Policy-makers also need to
be able to predict the size and direction of future flows of professional
and skilled emigrants.
In an effort
to try and understand the future course of the brain drain, the
Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) carried out a survey of
final-year college and university students in Zimbabwe. The survey
aimed to obtain information on the demographic profile of the student
body; their attitudes towards national issues and government policies;
satisfaction and expectations about economic conditions and about
the future; likelihood of leaving after graduation; reasons for
moving; most likely destinations; perceived conditions in the most
likely destination; and length of stay in the most likely destination.
Answers to questions were analysed by gender, age, rural/urban background
and other variables.
The university
students were from faculties of Law, Science, Engineering, Commerce,
Medicine/Pharmacy and Arts/Humanities. The colleges included technical,
commercial and teacher training institutions located in several
urban centres. A total of 1,192 questionnaires were administered
in Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru or Masvingo. The students came from all
over the country including some of the more remote rural areas.
The survey first
looked at student attitudes towards Zimbabwe and found that:
- Almost 60%
of the students said they were proud to be called Zimbabweans;
a high proportion but lower than in every other SADC country tested.
A similar number agreed that being a citizen of Zimbabwe was a
very important part of how they see themselves (high but again
low in the regional context). There is also a strong desire among
students to help build their nation. As many as 78% of the students
felt it was their ‘duty’ to contribute their talents and skills
to the growth of their country.
- Levels of
student dissatisfaction about economic conditions are higher than
in any other SADC country surveyed. Only 3% were satisfied with
their personal economic conditions and less than 35% were optimistic
that things would improve in the next five years. Less than one
per cent were satisfied with current national economic conditions
and only 20% expected to see any improvement five years hence.
Only 20% were optimistic that the cost of living would be better
in the future. Just 25% felt that their incomes would improve
in the future. Only 20% felt that they would be able to get the
job they want, while just 21% were optimistic that job security
would improve in the future. The prospects for professional advancement
were seen as slim and the hopes for fair taxation low. Very few
felt government was doing enough to create employment opportunities
for graduates.
- Perceptions
of other quality of life measures were similarly negative. Only
14% said their ability to find the house they wanted would improve
in the future; only 19% thought medical services would get better
and only 21% were optimistic about their ability to find a good
school for their children. A mere 18% felt that their personal
and family’s safety would improve in the future and just 19% were
optimistic that the future of children would get better. Very
few of the students expected the quality upkeep of public amenities,
the availability of quality affordable products and customer care
to improve. Only 11% felt that the HIV/AIDS situation would improve.
Given the prevailing
pessimism, it is not surprising that leaving the countr y after
graduation is at the forefront of many student minds. Nearly three
quarters of the students indicated that they had given the matter
of leaving a great deal of consideration. Gender, age and socioeconomic
status made little dif ference to the answer. Only 6% of the students
had not considered moving abroad. Just over half (56%) said that
they were likely to emigrate within six months of graduating. Some
70% said it was likely they would have left the country within two
years. Over a quarter of students had already applied for or were
in the process of applying for a work permit in another country.
Around 15% had applied for or were in the process of applying for
permanent residence in another country. A similar proportion were
seeking citizenship of another country.
Southern Africa
is the preferred destination for 36% of the students, followed by
Europe (29%), and North America (24%). Less than one per cent listed
the rest of Africa as their preferred destination. Students are
relatively confident of their ability to end up in their preferred
destination. Nearly 40% felt it likely they would move within Southern
Africa, while 28% and 22% said it was likely they would end up in
Europe and North America respectively.
To what extent
do family ties and obligations act as brakes on emigration? In many
countries, they probably would. Not in contemporary Zimbabwe. An
astonishing 77% of students said that they were being encouraged
or strongly encouraged to leave the country by their families. Why
are families so eager for their offspring to leave? The answer surely
lies in the fact that many families need household members to leave
and r emit funds, just for survival. Several subsidiary questions
therefore arise. Will those who leave do so permanently or on a
temporary basis? Once gone will they continue to maintain links
with Zimbabwe? And, in particular, will they remit funds once they
have left? The survey found the following:
- In contrast
to many students in Southern Africa, Zimbabweans are more inter
ested in long-term migration. Around 60% have a great desire to
leave for more than two years and 46% said it was very likely
that they would do so. Only 12% indicated a preferred stay of
less than two years in their most likely destination. As many
as half the students said they would stay away for longer than
five years, an alarmingly high percentage.
- Although
many of the students said they would want to be permanent residents
(60%) and citizens (57%) of their most desirable destination,
fewer said they would want to retire there (37%) and fewer still
to be buried there (18%). Clearly, although many students would
like to leave the country, most see themselves eventually returning
home.
- A large proportion
of potential emigrants (83%) anticipatedmaintaining links with
Zimbabwe once they had left. Fifty-six percent indicated that
they intended to visit either once every few months or yearly,
while only 11% said that they would never return. Almost half
(46%) would send money home once every month and 16% would send
money home a few times a year. Less than 2% would never send money
home. A quarter of the students would send money home more than
once a month.
- In terms
of maintaining links with home, only 29% of students said they
would be willing or very willing to give up their homes in Zimbabwe
and a quarter would be willing or very willing to take all their
savings out of Zimbabwe. In terms of assets, 24% would want to
take all their assets out of the county. Only 26% said they would
be willing or very willing to give up their Zimbabwean citizenship.
On all four of the measures, more women than men were willing
to cut their ties with Zimbabwe.
Students have
strong opinions on government policies to stop or control the brain
drain. Overwhelmingly, they feel that political measures targeted
at individuals will be ineffectual and that government should concentrate
instead on fostering economic development and growth. While it is
obviously not possible to prevent people from migrating to developed
countries for better prospects in this era of globalisation, the
adverse impact of such movements on economic development merit urgent
attention. The survey showed that a coercive approach to the brain
drain would only intensify the level of discontent and for most
of the students would make absolutely no difference to their emigration
intentions. The best way to curb the high rates of skilled labour
migration lies in addressing the economic fundamentals of the country
in a way that will ultimately improve living standards.
Download
full document
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
