1133 



According to the HE, the proportion of the total number of schol- 

 ars from Europe shows a pattern of slow and uneven increase, while 

 that from the Far East has declined. In 1965-66, 40 percent of the 

 scholars were from Europe and 35 percent from the Far East, a ratio 

 that had persisted during the preceding 4 years. In 1966-67, the 

 proportion from Europe began to grow, unevenly, and that from the 

 Far East to decline, to the 1971 ratio of 43 percent to 29 percent. 

 Viewed in the long-term perspective, however, this ratio shows a slow 

 change of direction toward the Far East. In 1954—55, the proportion 

 was 53 percent from Europe and only 20 percent from the Far East. 

 The proportions reported from other regions of the world in 1970-71 

 were the same, or no more than a 1 percent differential, as in the pre- 

 vious year; Latin America, 7 percent; Near and Middle East, 7 per- 

 cent ; North America, 5 percent ; Oceania, 4 percent ; and Africa, 3 per- 

 cent. There were 29 countries that had more than 100 scholars in the 

 United States, totaling 10,278. About one-third of this number (3,263) 

 were from the LDCs. India ranked third on the list with 1,116 scholars. 

 According to the HE report, there were no significant variations in 

 the ranking on this list from that of the previous year."3 



Thus, data on foreign scholars in the United States show the grow- 

 ing prominence of the LDCs in U.S. programs of international ex- 

 change. In some instances this trend is demonstrated by numerical 

 increases as in the case of the Near and Middle East. But most 

 importantly, it is demonstrated in the proportional increases that have 

 been occurring in recent years in the direction of the LDCs and accord- 

 ingly narrowing the gap between the source countries of Europe and 

 those of the Far East and other LDC regions of the world. That there 

 is substantial brain drain of foreign scholars is evident from the data 

 presented above on pages 66-67 and 70-71 drawn from the National 

 Science Foundation reports of 1972 and 1973 on scientists, engineers, 

 and physicians from abroad. 



Some Tentative Getieralizations on Brain Drain as a Contemjyorary 

 Prohlem 

 From the material presented above on the brain drain as a con- 

 temporary international problem, a series of tentative generalizations 

 can be drawn: 



1. A changing world environment occurring over the past three 

 decades has created unique political and economic conditions for 

 brain drain to flourish as a contemporary international phe- 

 nomenon. 



2. The political aspects of the brain drain problem are rooted 

 in this changing world environment, specifically, in the processes 

 of decolonization that has produced a "Third AVorld" of inde- 

 pendent states in Asia and Africa. 



3. The economic aspects of the problem derive from the nature 

 of an evolving and globalizing industrial revolution with parallel 

 developments in the world of science and technology. This dual 

 phenomenon has created an expanding world economy, stimulated 

 the universalization of knowledge, and generated a competition 



223 Ibid., p. 12. In compiling the report on foreign scholars, the HE polled 2,372 U.S. 

 institutions. Sixty-one percent responded. Of the respondents, 580 reported foreign scholars 

 and 856 reported no foreign scholars ; 936 did not reply, (p. 18) 



