1094 



ATTRACTION OF FOREIGN STUDENTS TO AUSTRALIA 



Australia has also attracted foreign students, mostly from Asian 

 LDCs, who decided to stay on after receiving their education rather 

 than return home. However, data are scarce. According to Mr. Bald- 

 wan, Australia had only a negligible number of foreign students dur- 

 ing the period 1954-60.^'^ Perhaps the most authoritative statement on 

 student nonreturnees (and the only one cited in the data examined) 

 came from Australian's Minister of Immigration, who in 1966 referred 

 to estimates that 20 percent of 12,000 foreign Asian students in 

 Australia wished to remain in the country.^^* 



That the 20 percent figure continues to be a valid basis for judging 

 brain drain to Australia is verified by the complaint of Singapore's 

 Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew at the Commonwealth Conference in 

 Ottawa during September 1973. The Prime Minister used the con- 

 ference as a forum to accuse Australia of fostering a "brain drain." 

 Since Australia had adopted more liberal immigration policies toward 

 Asians, he said, some of Singapore's most brilliant students were being 

 enticed to quit their country and settle permanently in Australia. 

 Australia's Prime Minister Gough Whitlam rejected the charge: and 

 in a statement released later in Canberra, ''an aggrieved Immigration 

 Minister," Al Grassby, according to the press report, said that 

 Lee Kuan Yew Avas "up a gumtree," meaning, misinformed in his 

 allegations. 



Whether Australia's actions are deliberate in encouraging Singapore 

 students to remain permanently may be an open question, but figures 

 available indicate that of 3,652 Singapore students studying in Aus- 

 tralian universities since 1969, as many as 730 failed to return home 

 after graduation. Singapore's sensitivity on this matter arises from 

 its concern for future economic planning which depends heavily on 

 a steady supply of highly trained professionals in such fields as science, 

 technology, and engineering. Talented students are sent to Australia 

 and ^CAV Zealand to gain the training not yet available in Singapore. 

 Reasons given for einigration from Singapore are its compulsory mili- 

 tary service laws, higher salaries in Australia, shortage of housing in 

 Singapore, and attraction to Australia's life-style. In general, these 

 reasons fit into the pattern of causes for emigration which is examined 

 in another chapter. 



Before leaving Ottawa, Prime Minister Lee was given assurances 

 by Mr. Whitlam that if Singapore decided to bring its students home, 

 the Australian Government would not stand in the way. But, as the 

 press report said and will be explained later on in this study, "it is 

 hard to see how the students can be forced to return against their 

 will." 1'^ ^ 



To sum up Australia's brain drain experience, despite incomplete 

 data in certain categories, it is evident that Australia, like other inter- 

 mediate and advanced countries, has in recent years drawn consider- 

 ably on the LDCs, particularly those in Asia, to satisfy its professional 



"3 Baldwin, op. cit., p. 361 flf 2 

 1968 "p^32* *** ^"^^ ^^"^^^'■y General, Outflow of Trained Personnel from LDCs, N^^. 5, 

 ^clice'I^'o^ll^.^^^^^^ Charged-Singapore 'Brain Drain'." The Christian 



