Brain Drain Globalization - Essay Example

According to Baldwin &Winters (2004), in 2000, over 175 million people amounting to 2.9% of the global population the worlds were residing outside of their original countries. Out of this percentage, over 65 million individuals were economically engaged and active in their profession. This immigration has in the recent past involved a great percentage of health professionals who have sought employment opportunities outside their mother countries because of the unprecedented higher unemployment rates in their countries. The researchers have further found out that 6% of the world's physicians are outside their home countries. Over three-quarters of this number were found in three countries, Canada, United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

Brain drain involves the migration of trained labor looking for better living standards, higher salaries, quality life, stable political conditions, and advanced technology in different places of the world away from their mother countries. The migration of the professionals within the continent and outside of the continent is a growing concern and it has had its effect on the different sectors and systems especially in developing countries.

Brain drain is critical especially in this age of globalization. It has helped and greatly contributed in sharing knowledge and skills especially in developing countries. This paper will demystify how brain drain is critical in its contribution to knowledge and skills sharing in developing countries (Bhagwati, 2011). The paper will cover remittance of expatriates, involvement in research and development and the networks and high-quality education associated with brain drain.

Time has come for the world to understand that the mobility of health professionals is part and parcel of the current 21st century. The countries should realize the need that they are in competition with other best institutions for quality service delivery and manpower globally. Time has come for the world to realize that it sounds archaic to present the brain drain concept and then revert to showing health assessment with its structures in the world. This century has not only brought the onset of technological advancement, but also the diverse modes upon which the world scientists can share and communicate. In the current global society, an individuals physical location may not necessarily have an impact on their ability to impact the health of an individual. The professionals in healthcare in the developed countries may possess most of their portfolios in the mother countries. There is easy therefore quick travel, exchange of information, and collaborations.

Remittances from Expatriates

There are remittances that emanate from the professionals especially health professionals that they sent back home. This contributes a substantial amount of their incomes than their mother countries receive from the services rendered by their professionals in the developed societies. For instance, in Bangladesh, over USD $2 billion is received from the citizens in foreign countries and their incomes form part of the second highest foreign revenue source (Cohen, 2013). The economic importance and magnitude of remittances, growth and economic progress and then finally social equity would depend on the capability of the respective human resources belonging to the nation. If whatever the amount remitted by the expatriates is appropriately invested in research and development, it would have given opportunities for educated and skilled nationals improve at the mother country. The investment would then spur up economic development and issues of brain drain would not be something worth a mention.

Expatriates contribute greatly in Research and Development

It is projected that the scientists from the third and second world countries deep in research and development manufacture 4.5 publications together with 10 times more patents than the scientist who remains in the mother country. What makes the difference in the capacity production? The contexts upon which technology and science would prosper require an amalgamation of conditions and factors to produce results. These include conducive and good political will, funding, technical support, infrastructural development, and a scientific community (Cohen, 2013). The enabling factors are absent in the developing world and that is why brain drain works and builds the individuals who chose to look for careers elsewhere.

The effectiveness and individuals value depends upon certain critical factors including linking to people, organizations, and institutions that create of knowledge and then establish a favorable environment that is prospering. The expatriates professionals and healthcare experts can contribute their knowledge in their profession and skills in the native countries by the development of collaborative training, capacity building sessions, teaching their own countrymen and even in research projects. This will require the ardent commitment of the scientists in the foreign countries and the receptiveness at the home countries. The political leaders, scientists, and decision-makers in countries that are developing and also international bodies should appreciate and comprehend the fact that synergistic and social nature of knowledge sharing in order for educational systems and policies considered to promote and build research studies.

Networked Society

The growth of technology and internet has revolutionized service delivery and certain professions. Today, the issues of brain drain are not a big problem. Certain professions have been experiencing unprecedented growth and expansion. Healthcare services or instance has rapidly grown as it has managed to create diverse mechanisms for accessing services across the border. The information technology can give telemedicine services together with telepreventive. The technology can then be used for purposes of research skills and sharing knowledge in a manner that is cost-effective.

The Supercourse is one such large network with over 20, 000 connected scientists, research persons, and healthcare professionals. They are connected together through information technology and they share knowledge through lectures given free for global consumption. Such similar expatriate connectivity should be developed in order for the expatriates to share and contribute skills and knowledge to their mother countries. With such globalization, there is little need even to consider brain drain as a factor that affects human resources in countries especially in the developing countries.

Brain-drain has also contributed greatly to opportunities and high-quality education in areas of research. The availability of these highly skilled opportunities is necessary to attract and retain talent and expertise. China as a country has taken steps in building its image as a biological research leader in the areas of biotechnology and this has illustrated its empowerment and strength. The leadership in this area has made China the only country that is developing and participating in the Human Genome Project (Hanson, 2011). The experience gotten in the participation of its critical societies has made a platform for biotechnology whose application ranges from agriculture to human diseases. These opportunities have attracted international collaboration of gifted scientists and ventures from both within and outside of China. Therefore, such existence brain drain builds development since it is solving a problem in the society and making long-lasting solutions that can a long way in affecting the whole human society in the world.

It has also been argued that brain drain and exportation of native skills and profession to the other countries is affecting specific sectors of the economy in those developing countries and also the health of the general population. Inasmuch as this might be true to some extent, there is the greater good in achieving globalization as opposed to the localized way of running the economy. For instance, the professionals would go to the developed countries, where there is a consistent increase in demand for skills, especially in healthcare. The professionals would involve in research and development to come up with the solution to certain problems and emerging diseases in the society (Otiono, 2011). These diseases are global affect humanity in-universe. It is true that these developing countries do not possess the technology, political environment, and resources associated with the research in those specific fields. Therefore, the exportation of the skills and expertise helps in bringing a medical solution to the global problem. The fact that the profession has been exported helps in bring a global solution to a global problem that the developing country couldn't solve.

Similarly, some and a good number of expatriates after a certain period of time often return to their mother country. They return because it is in their mother countries where they have connections, families, friends, and even the pride of being in their own nationality. A good percentage of them return home to establish themselves and even patriotically build their own motherland. When they come home with their skills, they are able to train their fellow professionals in certain critical areas and do skills transfer to them and this builds the capacity of the profession. They bring forth a wealth of experience and expertise that they perhaps did not go to the developed country. Therefore, in contrary to the notion that brain drain affects a country's human resources, it also builds its resources especially when the experts who went come back to give back to their country.

However, it cannot be assumed when the adverse effects of brain drain are critically considered. There are counter-arguments that brain drain robs nations especially developing countries of their topmost brains to the foreign countries. There are developing countries that indeed cannot sustain its trained workforce. The political situation and economic quagmire cannot retain such highly trained professionals in their mother countries. In these circumstances, mostly the individuals opt to export their services to the foreign countries in search for better living standards (Pradhan, 2008). The developing countries do have many individuals with high skills in different professionals, especially in the health sector. With their skills that stand out universally, they can access better pay, conditions, and remunerations outside their mother countries than within their own countries.

However, with these facts and the happening in these developing countries, the advantages that come with globalized brain drain cannot be compared with the negative outcomes of brain drain. When one considers the issues of the fact that the mother countries do not have the necessary resources and research capabilities and advantages to warrant and sustain research, no good will, the absence of infrastructure and capacity, then expatriation is a better opportunity. Additionally, the 21st century is an era of computer literacy and internet growth. One does not necessarily need to travel in order to export their skills and expertise. There are advanced systems in the field of information technology where individuals can connect with the other professions in outside world to communicate and solve problems. Therefore, the issue of brain drain is not here nor there.

Conclusion

Brain drain is now a global phenomenon. There an unprecedented transfer of skill and training not only from the developing countries to the developed countries, but of late even the developed countries is sending their professionals to work in the developing countries. The issue of brain drain is not a bad one; it helps in building and exchange of knowledge and skills....