Trends in International Migration

SOPEMI Trends in International Migration Continuous Reporting System on Migration ANNUAL REPORT 2001 EDITION ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT Part II STUDENT MOBILITY BETWEEN AND TOWARDS OECD COUNTRIES: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS71 Introduction (including students) to sectors where there are labour shortages. Against the current background of economic globalisation, international trade in goods, services Student mobility is a potential flow of qualified and information is more important than ever. This workers, either in the course of their studies or global economic integration demands linguistic and through subsequent recruitment. Moreover, the cultural knowledge from future partners which could, internationalisation of students in higher education in particular, be acquired as part of their education. may allow economies of scale in education systems At the same time, student mobility is made easier (for example, development of new branches) and by developments in communications and faster bring in additional resources to finance them. For- information flows. eign students in significant proportions also have an The result is a growing internationalisation of impact on the life of the local economy (consump- education systems, manifest in the content of pro- tion, accommodation, etc.) From the point of view of grammes and the evolution of student populations, the countries of origin, the potential gains related to which are becoming increasingly cosmopolitan. The this mobility (strengthening of cultural and commer- integration of world trade is encouraging student cial ties, transfer of technology) may be limited as a mobility, allowing them to absorb the cultural and result of the brain drain, mainly at times of shortage social customs of their host country, and thus to act as of qualified labour in the foreign students’ host ambassador both for their own country and their host countries. country. The rising power of technology in the eco- Thus, a panorama of qualified labour flows can- nomic sphere, and the imperative need for countries not ignore international student mobility. Based to keep pace with technological developments, in on data standardised by the OECD, UNESCO and particular in key economic sectors, currently accentu- EUROSTAT, it is possible, first of all, to attempt an ates the internationalisation of educational courses. It evaluation of the scale, directions, characteristics and then becomes tempting for countries to encourage determining factors of student flows. Prior to that, it some of their students to go abroad for their educa- will be recalled that student flows represent a form of tion, with a view to benefiting on their return from migration of qualified labour and also a precursor of technology acquired at minimal cost. For their part, subsequent migrations, mainly of HRST. Secondly, host countries may take the opportunity to allow the consequences of this mobility for the countries of some of the foreign students access to the labour origin and host countries will be examined. market in the form of part-time or seasonal work or else participate in research and development work A. STUDENT MIGRATIONS: FORM AND (R&D) incorporated in educational programmes. PREREQUISITES OF MIGRATIONS OF HRST During the last few years, sustained economic growth in most OECD countries and the develop- 1. Student migrations: a form of migration ment of the information economy has led to a con- of qualified labour… siderable increase in migration of human resources in science and technology (HRST). Some member Student migrations, individuals who becoming countries have relaxed their immigration laws to increasingly well qualified in the course of their attract qualified and highly-qualified foreigners studies, may amount to a kind of HRST migration 93 © OECD 2001 Trends in International Migration Box II.1. Statistical sources and methods For the purposes of this study, the data used were example, in Norway, when the classification “for- those from the “Indicators for Education Systems eigner” is defined on the basis of place of birth and (INES)” project, conducted jointly by UNESCO, OECD not country of residence. Conversely, the number of and EUROSTAT in the OECD countries, and certain foreign students may be under-estimated when iden- emerging countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and tification is based on the residential address provided Central and Eastern Europe participating in the “World on enrolment (United Kingdom, Ireland), which effec- Education Indicators” and “PHARE” projects. This data- tively excludes children of resident immigrants, as base contains enrolments in higher education for each well as foreign students who give the address of a res- country, and records the number of foreign students ident relative or friend. The same applies when under enrolled. It thus provides information on numbers of bilateral agreements on free movement of people migrant students and not annual flows. Moreover, the (Trans-Tasman agreements between Australia and number of students from each country enrolled abroad New Zealand) or multilateral agreements (Nordic is measured from data available in OECD member countries), enrolment procedures do not always con- countries. Thus students going to countries that do not sider as foreigners students who belong to the coun- provide OECD with this kind of data or going to non- tries party to the agreements. member countries are not counted. Despite these reservations, the fact remains that Foreign students are usually identified on the the data collected under the “Indicators for Education basis of citizenship, or in some cases, by an alterna- Systems (INES)” project are an analytical tool which tive (nationality, place of birth, former domicile…). can serve as an initial picture of student mobility The application of this criteria thus generates a bias, between and towards the OECD countries. related to the differences between host countries’ The educational levels used in this document are policies on obtaining nationality. Indeed, children of defined according to the UNESCO International Stan- non-naturalised migrants may have been living for a dard Classification of Education (ISCED-97), devel- long time in the host country (some are born there), oped to facilitate international comparisons. The which does not, a priori, justify attaching them to their ISCED 5 level corresponds to the first stages of ter- country of origin or that of their parents to measure tiary education. It comprises programmes that do not the proportion of students going abroad for their edu- lead to an advanced or research qualification, covered cation. This bias is accentuated by the fact that most by ISCED level 6. ISCED 5 programmes can be decom- of the countries considered cannot distinguish, among posed between 5A types of programmes, mostly theo- foreign students as a group, those who possess a per- retical in content and directed towards further study manent residence permit (who could be described as at ISCED level 6, and 5B types of programmes whose “pseudo” foreign students) and those holding a stu- content is more professional (see OECD 1999 for more dent residence permit. A similar bias may appear, for details). when they become part of the working population significant, especially in Australia, Switzerland and participate in the host country’s production. and the Netherlands (OECD, CERI, 1991). This combination of student and HRST migra- • As well as this first form of participation in tion arises in two cases: active life, internships are often required at • First of all, to validate their programme, stu- the end of students’ studies to validate their dents enrolled in research programmes are theoretical learning by placing them in a posi- required to carry out application or research tion in a company, with functions suited to activities, in a professional context (private or their level of qualification, which can then be academic) in the form of dissertations or the- considered as a kind of HRST migration. ses. To the extent that such activities could be carried on by professional workers, and in Clearly, this is not the case for all student migra- most cases lead to the production of a scien- tions. The actual scale of this combined form of stu- tific work (publications), they constitute par- dent and HRST migration depends on ticipation in R and D activities in the host the distribution of students by grade, field of country (in particular at ISCED level 6, study, activity and functions exercised during an 94 see Box II.1). This contribution is considered internship. © OECD 2001 Student Mobility Between and Towards OECD Countries : A Comparative Analysis 2. … and also a precursor of subsequent • The better immigrants master the language of migrations, mainly HRST their host country, the better they integrate into its labour market (Dustmann, 1994). Aus- While student migrations sometimes represent tralian studies show that linguistic mastery a form of HRST migration, they may also be a precur- affects not only immigrants’ employability (a sor. Studies of the economics of labour broadly five-fold increase, according to Vanden Heuvel agree education has a positive influence on the and Wooden, 2000), but also their profes- probability and speed of absorption in the labour sional status vis-à-vis other workers (+9 to 17%) market. OECD recently devoted a thematic study to and their income (+2 to 33%, Wooden, 1994). the transition from initial education to working

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