1053 



plicate this problem and render generalization difficult ; but acceptable 

 risks must be taken if the data are to be at all relevant and meaningful. 



EMPHASIS ox LESS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES 



This study emphasizes brain drain as it affects the "Less Developed 

 Countries" (LDCs) ; only in a tangential way does it deal with the 

 impact of brain drain upon losers among the advanced nations. In 

 the LDCs the brain drain issue has its most serious consequences ; here 

 tlie intervention of science, technology, and diplomacy is most viable. ^^ 

 Advanced nations have the infrastructure and national base for re- 

 plenishing the supply of lost scientists and engineers and the resources, 

 political and economic, for counteracting their outflow. Theirs is a 

 bearable los?; it is potentially recoverable. Such is not the case with 

 LDCs. Their loss is sometimes irreparable. As a preliminary report 

 of UNESCO on the problem of talent migration observed, "While 

 many developed countries are also affected by the 'brain drain,' it is 

 the developing countries which are hardest hit by its consequences." ^° 

 For the United States this aspect of the problem has special relevance 

 because this Nation has become the primary force attracting talent 

 from the LDCs. "The United States has become a graduate school for 

 much of the developing Avorld." wrote John R. Niland in his study on 

 the Asian engineering brain drain, "but as growing numbers of for- 

 eign students seek higher degrees at American universities, so too do 

 growing numbers of them avoid or postpone return to the home 

 count i-y." ^^ 



It is not surprising, therefore, that the adverse effects of the brain 

 drain provoked sharp criticism among the LDCs, most of whom had 

 only in recent years emerged from their colonial relationship with the 

 "West. In the General Assembly of the United Nations they accused 

 the West of transferring its exploitive urges from physical to human 

 resources. The representative from Dahomey called it an "odious 

 bleeding" of Africa, a continuation of the slave trade. The Assembly 



'» The report of the State Department's workshop and conference on International 

 migration of skills explained its priority interest in the LDCs In this way : "Finally, as 

 some noted, a concern with the 'brain drain' and nonreturn should be restricted to 

 migration from underdeveloped countries to the developed ones ; It Is here that the 

 enormous existing disparities in rewards and resources between the two make cooperative 

 actions both vital and defensible in terms of the developed countries' own long-range 

 interests." (Proceedings of Workshop on the International Migration of Talent and Skills, 

 October 196C, p. 9.) 



-"United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, The Prohlem of 

 Emigration of Scientists and Technologists, General Appraisal of the Phenomenon. Pre- 

 liminary report. Prepared at the request of the Advisory Committee of the Economic 

 and Social Council on the Application of Science and Technology to Development, Paris, 

 Feb. 29, 19G8, p. 11. (Hereafter cited as, UNESCO, Preliminary Report on Emigration 

 of Scientists and Technologists, 19GS.) 



Senator Walter F. Moiidale gave this explanation of the Imbalance of 

 effects : "From some European countries, particularly Britain, the brain drain is very 

 substantial. But Is well within the means of these countries to provide the incentives 

 which vv'ould reduce the flow, or at least compete for talent, particularly In the strength- 

 ened European Common Market nations." "But developing nations," he continued, "cannot 

 compote in salaries and material benefits. And any student or trainee in this country 

 soon learns to appreciate those rewards. . . ." The Senator explained the essence of the 

 problem for the LDCs In these words : "Furthermore, these nations cannot now create the 

 kinds of institutions and the kinds of opportunities which will attract and retain the 

 very best of their native talent. They cannot, that is, unless they have outside help." 

 (A speech delivered by Senator Mondale at the University of Minnesota on Apr. 14, 1967, 

 in Congressional Record, May 15, 1967, p. S6858.) 



^ .Tohn R. Niland. The Asian Engineering Brain Drain (Lexington, Mass. : Heath, 1970), 

 p. xlii. 



