1131 



DATA FROM "oPEN DOORS, 197l" ON FOREIGN SCHOLARS 



Foreign scholars in the United States add to potential brain drain 

 through educational exchange. For the year 1971, the HE reported 

 a total of 12,047 foreign scholars in the United States, a 5 percent de- 

 crease from the 12,659 for 1970. (For a list of foreign countries with 

 more than 100 scholars in the United States during 1970-71, see 

 Table 22.) The economic pinch on the campuses and among private 

 grant sponsors, in addition to the decline in government funding for 

 international education, were believed to be largely responsible for 

 the decline. The sharpest numerical decline occurred in the Far East 

 where 3,519 scholars were reported, about 400 fewer than in 1970. A 

 very slight decline was registered for Latin America with 869, 8 less 

 than in 1970. There were 5,218 scholars from Europe, about 140 fewer 

 than in 1970, and 655 from North America, about 23 less than the year 

 before. Only two regions had an increase in scholars, the Near and 

 Middle East with 816, an increase of 3, and Africa with 398, an 

 increase of 9.^^^ 



(1) If the brain drain Is considered to be composed of those who do not leave the 

 United States immediately after graduation, the non-return rate for the survey 

 nationalities as a whole is 77.8%. 



(2) If the brain drain is considered to be composed only of those who acquire immi- 

 grant visas, the non- return rate for the survey nationalities as a whole is 38.6% 



(3) If a compromise between the definitions in (1) and (2) above is considered a 

 workable and meaningful definition of the brain drain, the non-return rate for the 

 total sample is 58.2%. 



To summarize, the survey indicates that, under a continuation of the socioeconomic 

 conditions of the 1960's in Asia and the United States, nearly 60% of the Asian 

 students entering the United States will remain for some significant amount of time 

 after graduation. But findings from parts of the study not reported here indicate that, 

 should the labor market balance change significantly, this rate would change with It. 

 (Tai K. Oh, "A New Estimate of the Student Brain Drain from Asia," International 

 Migration Revi&w 7 [winter 1973], pp. 449-456.) 

 A survey of brain drain from Africa by Man Singh Das of Northern Illinois University 

 presents a contrasting experience of African students In the United States during the fall 

 of 1968. Man Singh Das concludes that "no such phenomenon operates in Africa as the 

 migration of professionals has little ill effect on the economic development of African 

 nations," (p. 81). He defines brain drain in these restrictive terms: ". . . if the migration 

 of persons ... is dysfunctional for the sending country (for example, Egypt) in the 

 sense that It retards the development of a society, but functional for the receiving country 

 (for example, the United States) as well as for the individuals concerned, the phenomenon 

 may approoriately be characterized as brain drain." (p. 77). "The problem of brain drain 

 for Africa," he concludes, "is a doubtful one from the outset in view of the great majority 

 of students (84 percent) who plan to return home," (p. 77). On the basis of a sample con- 

 sisting of 372 male students. Man Singh Das reports that 84 percent planned to return home 

 while 16 percent wished to remain in the United States. It is not known whether they did 

 return. Man Singh Das, "Brain Drain Controversy and African Scholars," Studies in 

 Comparative International Development 9 (Spring 1974), pp. 74-83.) 

 222 Ibid., pp. 11-12. 



