Mobility Or Brain Drain? The Case Of Mexican Scientists
JIMÉNEZ JAIME, ESCALANTE JUAN C., RODRÍGUEZ CARLOS, RAMÍREZ JESÚS M.
Instituto de Investigaciones en Matematicas Aplicadas y en Sistemas, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
MORALES-ARROYO MIGUEL A.
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
КЛЮЧЕВЫЕ СЛОВА: “NO RETURNS”, BRAIN DRAIN, LOST OF TALENTS, LATIN AMERICAN SCIENCE
АННОТАЦИЯ:
Developing countries display a variety of modes of external scientific “mobility”, a phenomenon better described as “brain drain”. Some countries lose scientific human resources because of social instability and “coup d’etats”, others because of lack of scientific infrastructure or low salaries. Still others leave their home countries in search of better opportunities of development in their areas of research. The case of Mexican scientists centers mostly in the “no return” phenomenon. Since the early 70s the Mexican government gave a great impulse to the granting of PhD scholarships to good prospects interested in going to study abroad. Although statistics vary, they indicate some relevant percentage of “no returns”. This is detrimental to the country’s scientific development effort, since the investment in the preparation of a PhD is not recovered. This paper shows how the authorities make efforts to repatriate scientists working abroad and what the results are. To reduce brain drain, long range planning that involves both the creation of science positions and research centers coupled with the arrival of new PhDs is recommended. The paper also explores the converse phenomenon, “brain gain”, as proposed by several authors.
