1160 



Once under the influence of the American scientific and technological 

 environment many students will not return home. As Mr. Henderson 

 observed, "scientific studies have . . . become for many a device not 

 for development but for immigration." ^^^ 



And the temporary visas, especially student visas, that gave access 

 to American academic institutions become "launching pads for im- 

 migration." ^^^ The "pull" of American academic institutions is evident 

 by the fact that an estimated 20 percent of foreign students will not 

 return, and those from the LDCs exceed 35 percent.^^* To cite a specific 

 case, some 50 percent of Iranian students of moderate wealth and in- 

 fluence studying in the United States do not return home.^^^ Accord- 

 ing to a more recent source, more than 70 percent of all professionals 

 immigrating from Taiwan, Korea, India, and Iran are nonreturning 

 students.^^'^ 



FMGs among foreign exchange scholars are most vulnerable to the 

 "permanent draw" of the American scientific environment. Plentiful 

 opportunities to work with the most sophisticated medical equipment 

 and in the most advanced medical facilities in the world, potentialities 

 for advanced study far exceeding any prospects at home, and virtually 

 unlimited opportunities to practice medicine in the metropolitan areas 

 of the country, have proved to be an open invitation to permanent 

 residency. A medical degree, unlike many other professional creden- 

 tials, commands international recognition : it is transnational and thus 

 transferable. And as Stevens and Vermeulen observed, "emigration is 

 a real career alternative," ^^^ particularly when the allure of America 

 is so inviting. 



ADDITIVES TO "PERMANENT DRAW" : ACCtTLTURATION, MISMATCHED 

 TRAINING, AND DONOR INDIFFERENCE 



Decision to immigrate permanently, though taken as a voluntary act 

 after residency in the United States or some other advanced country 

 in the West, may be influenced by a variety of cultural and intellectual 

 "pull" forces. Three specific elements in the receiving countries often 

 affecting the decision are : the processes of acculturation, mismatch in 

 education and training, and donor indifference to the returnee. 



P,rocess of Acculturation. — Acculturation processes often be^in 

 before the emigrant leaves his country. Many from the LDCs, like 

 those from the Middle East, the British Commonwealth, French Un- 

 ion, and the Philippines, are preconditioned by their innate admira- 

 tion of Western culture. Often their own cultures, especially in pat- 

 terns of education, have become infused with that of the former co- 

 lonial power, creating an easy transition from one world to another, 



s^ Selected Readings on International Education, House, Committee on Education and 

 Labor, 1966, p. 350. 



^^su.S. Congress, House, Committee on Government Operations, The Brain Drain into 

 the United States of Scientists, Engineers, and Physicians, a stai study for the Research 

 and Technical Programs Subcommittee, 90th Cong., 1st sess., 1967, p. 15. (Committee 

 print) (Hereifter cited as. StaflF s''''r|v. Hous° Government Operations Committee, Brain 

 Drain into the United States of Scientists, Engineers and Physicians, 1967.) 



^ Niland, "Foreign Manpower Trained in the United States," p. 296. See also, John R. 

 Niland, "A Human Capital Model for Brain Drain of Foreign Manpower Trained in the 

 United States," Journal of Economic Issues 5 (September 1971), pp. 70-71, fif. 5. 



'^ Naficy, op. cit., p. 67. 



«« Fortney, op. dt., p. 57. 



s*^ Stevens and Vermeulen, op. cit., p. 75. 



