Brain drain trends

Written By Billy Hoo

First published on January 2016

Originally published in the student publication “Voices from Abroad”, a magazine started by Malaysian students studying abroad, Malaysiakini has obtained permission to share select pieces with you, our readers. We will be featuring more of their content soon, but you can also get a free copy of their magazine here.

As a Malaysian student in the United States, the question of should I return or should I not return always come to my mind and I believe that it would be the same for you as well as the 7,800 other Malaysian students here in the United States. People will say, if you choose to remain in the United States you would certainly be regarded as a brain drain and if you choose to return to the country it would be a ‘brain gain’ to the country – or is it?

In the literature of skilled migration, this is what we call the mobility of international students. Intellectuals in developed countries do not favour the term brain drain – perhaps rightfully so – calling it brain circulation or skilled migration instead. The reason is that brain drain would mean developing countries have a limited source of highly skilled human capital, like non-renewable natural resources, but that is not the case because developing countries are producing new college graduates every single year. More importantly, individuals are making their decision to migrate or return based on their expected utility and that they maximize their utility by making the right migratory decision if given the opportunity to do so. The latter terms - skilled migration or brain circulation – hence, would mean that in a world of labour mobility, there is some sort of invisible hand that matches skills to the right places.

So the question is, does it really mean that Malaysia will experience brain drain if a student decided to remain abroad? The short answer is ‘no’ but the long answer is ‘yes’. The short answer is ‘no’ because, every year we produce new college graduates locally. So the idea here is that even if a student decides to leave the country, he/she can be replaced by these college graduates. However, the long answer is yes, unfortunately. This is simply because, on average, international students from abroad are not perfect substitutes to graduates from local institutions. On an occasional basis, we often hear news that there is a huge graduate unemployment going on in the country and that English proficiency is a challenge for these graduates. This is all proven through studies by World Bank and TalentCorp. The job market in Malaysia is experiencing a skills gap that is needed to be filled by more skilled individuals and the next best alternative are Malaysian students from abroad.

And the next question is, if a student were to return to Malaysia, would it be a brain gain for the country? The answer: it depends. The gain to the country is conditional upon the country’s ability to utilize a student’s skill set. I always joked that if someone is a PhD holder in Astrophysics from Princeton, he/she are less likely to be appreciated in Malaysia because the existing institutions does not allow someone like that to flourish. Likewise, Malaysia will not be able to gain from his/her return to the country. Sad but that’s the bitter pill to swallow. But perhaps if he/she was an engineer, an accountant, or a specialist doctor, the country would need him/her.

Through my research, I am always an advocate for more policies that could help retain talent in Malaysia starting at the tertiary level. I am speaking not about policies that force Malaysian students abroad to go back but policies that create the environment that encourages returning home of Malaysian students from abroad. Malaysia, in my opinion, may not have done enough in this aspect. One particular policy idea I had in mind is the improvement of internship opportunities or simply the “visibility” of internship opportunities for Malaysian students abroad.

Take scholarship programs for example. How often do you hear scholarship programs with an internship pipeline program specifically designed for their scholars? I am speaking of course on the two larger scholarship offering bodies, JPA and MARA. Through my experiences researching on this matter, none of the two scholarship offering bodies have internship pipeline programs that help to place their scholars for internships back in Malaysia. While I don’t think a compulsory internship program should be in place at this moment, there is no effort on their part to be more participative in the scholar’s development often leaving their scholars, who they have invested heavily upon, to figure things out. I agree however, that scholars have to be motivated to find their own internships. I am advocating this under the idea that some mechanism has to be in place from the sponsors to facilitate internship opportunities should there be motivated scholars. The idea here is to keep the bond between the scholars and the country strong so that it will potentially manifest as a return to the country eventually. Internships can achieve this by offering the scholar an idea of his or her job prospect in the country as well as strengthen his or her attachment towards the country which could potentially make the scholar more inclined to return.

Now, this is not to say that there is no internship or similar programs that are available in Malaysia. The Perdana Fellowship which places interns with a minister is a program that would achieve this but it lacks the size. JPA’s Management Trainee Program which is run by TalentCorp on the other hand feels a little late because it targets recent JPA graduates and match them to a trainee position job with one of its industry partners.

My Asean Internship on the other hand sounds promising but it also lacks the size and is available only for Malaysian students from local institutions. Only recently, the Structured Internship Program (SIP) was changed in that it now offers tax benefits to companies who hire Malaysian students from abroad and from Malaysian institutions alike. Previously it only offered such benefits to participating companies who hire interns from Malaysian institutions.

Even if there are not many special programs available to provide internship opportunities to Malaysian students abroad, disseminating information on potential opportunities to students would help the cause.

Companies in Malaysia are finding it difficult to tap into the pool of Malaysian students abroad. Speaking to a host of human resource managers during a career fair this summer, they agreed that there is no such mechanism in place so far. Current job application websites like Jobstreet may not even be useful because ads look too generic and there are too many ads being posted to the disadvantage of potential employee and employers.

Retaining talent should not be focused on only after students graduate from tertiary education but throughout their journey. Brain drain can be mitigated if opportunities are in place to attract and engage with students studying abroad. Promoting internship opportunities or even by improving the visibility of internship opportunities between students and employers can help to achieve this cause.