The determinants of student mobility in Europe: the quality dimension..

The Bologna Process in Europe aims to increase student mobility, with the purpose of increasing average university quality through fiercer competition for students in a larger, more unified market. However, this beneficial effect of increased student mobility will only occur if student mobility is guided by quality considerations. We examine whether the quality of a country’s higher education system drives macro-flows of foreign tertiary students in Europe. Using various measures for the quality of a country’s higher education system in an extended gravity model, we find that quality has a positive and significant effect on the size and direction of flows of students exchanged between 31 European countries. At the graduate level, however, the driving force for student mobility appears to be the lack of educational opportunities in the home country.school choice; economies of scale; human capital;

Destination choices of mobile European researchers: Europe versus North America.

Using a sample of 998 European-born researchers who obtained their PhD in Europe, we study the differences in personal characteristics, motivations and perceived external influencing factors between researchers who are internationally mobile within Europe or internationally mobile to North America. We find that career motivations are more strongly related to mobility to North America, which suggests that Europe is indeed losing its most motivated (and best?) researchers to the United States. However, researchers with previous mobility experience as students within Europe are more likely to remain internationally mobile within Europe, due to their different perception of external influencing factors. Personal influencing factors, which includes things like obtaining a work permission for a spouse, availability of adequate schools for children and the quality and cost of accommodation, are linked to mobility to North America, suggesting that it is easier for researchers to move a family to North America than within Europe.

Mobility decisions of European doctoral researchers.

Student mobility remains an important component for the completion of a European Higher Education and Research Area. Two issues at the forefront are increasing student mobility within Europe as well as worries about a ‘brain drain’ of talented graduate students to North America. Unfortunately, there is still relatively little evidence and analysis available to support policy making. In this paper, using a large sample of European researchers, we analyse the decision of students where to pursue their doctoral studies: at home, in another European country or in North America. We find that students from countries with a weaker research and innovation system are more likely to seek their doctoral degree abroad, particularly within Europe. Graduate student mobility within Europe appears more driven by push factors in the home country, i.e. lack of opportunities for researchers, whereas mobility towards North America seems more driven by pull factors within the North American research and education system.

Return rates of European graduate students in the US : How many and who return, and when ?

Although the EU has introduced various policies to foster student mobility within Europe, it remains a ‘stylized fact’ that the majority of student mobility is geared towards the US. Many students who choose to complete (part of) their higher education in the US may choose to stay there upon graduation, constituting part of the ‘brain drain’. However, if a considerable part of these students return to Europe, bringing with them additional human and social capital, they may benefit the European economy. In this context, we study the migration behavior of a sample of European economics students who obtained a PhD in the US. First, we find a high stay rate : 64 % are currently working in the US, whereas only 24 % move back to their home country and an additional 10 % move to another European country. However, there are substantial differences in remigration patterns among different European countries and regions. The majority of returnees return immediately upon completion of their PhD degree, however, there is still considerable return migration of initial stayers up until the point where they likely receive tenure. Within Europe, the UK is the preferred destination for PhD holders who do not return to their home country. Finally, increasing funding for European students to pursue a PhD in the US may boost return rates, as PhD holders who were funded by their home country are more likely to return.Hoewel de EU verschillende beleidsmaatregelen geïntroduceerd heeft om studentenmobiliteit binnen Europa te bevorderen, blijft het een algemeen aanvaard feit dat het merendeel van de studentenmobiliteit de VS als bestemming heeft. Veel studenten die (een gedeelte van) hun hogere studies in de VS afronden hebben de mogelijkheid om na hun afstuderen in de VS te blijven, en zo een deel van de ‘brain drain’ te vormen. Indien echter een groot aantal van hen terugkeren naar Europa, en daarbij additioneel menselijk en sociaal kapitaal met zich meebrengen, kan de Europese economie hier wel bij varen. In deze context bestuderen we de migratiebeslissingen van een steekproef van Europese economiestudenten die hun doctoraat in de VS behaald hebben. Ten eerste observeren we dat een hoog percentage verkiest in de VS te blijven : 64 % werkt momenteel nog steeds in de VS, terwijl slechts 24 % terugkeert naar hun thuisland, en een additionele 10 % zich elders in Europa vestigt. Ten tweede zien we dat de meerderheid van zij die momenteel thuis of in Europa werken, daar ook al werkten vlak na hun afstuderen. Binnen Europa is het Verenigd Koninkrijk de meest populaire bestemming voor doctoraatshouders die ervoor kiezen niet naar hun land van herkomst terug te keren. Ten slotte zijn er mogelijks argumenten om meer fondsen vrij te maken voor Europese studenten die in de Verenigde Staten hun doctoraat willen behalen, aangezien studenten die door hun thuisland gefinancierd worden meer kans maken om terug te keren

Mobile minds: The drivers and effects of international researcher mobility.

It is widely accepted that science and technology are important drivers of economic growth and general welfare. In this context, policy makers are increasinlgy interested in understanding how the international mobility patterns of their researchers will affect their higher education and research systems, and by extension, the economy. Therefore the central theme of this dissertation is international mobility in higher education and research. The aim is to study the drivers and impacts of international mobility on science. The first two chapters will study the drivers of international mobility of students and researchers, respectively. A third chapter will link the international mobility of researchers to their research productivity. This chapter will thus border on the growing literature on the determinants of research productivity. A last and fourth chapter will introduce concepts of social network analysis, by looking at how a researcher s network and mobility patterns influence each other, in particular with regard to scientific productivity.status: publishe

An ‘Elite Brain Drain’: Are foreign top PhDs more likely to stay in the U.S.?

Many world regions, including Europe, have the perception that their best students and researchers leave to study and work in the United States. This phenomenon has been coined ‘the elite brain drain’. With a sample of European students who obtain a PhD in economics in the US, we study whether the most promising among them are indeed less likely to return. We find that PhD recipients from top institutes, or with a highly cited advisor , or a pre-PhD publication or a higher impact factor on their first publication are more likely to stay in the US or Canada at a top institute. This indicates that the quality of the working environment is of crucial importance to top researchers, and that the attraction of the US consists in a big part in its many top economics departments. The location choice made for the first job strongly predicts the location of the current job. Once a top researcher has made the decision to stay, particularly at a top institute, the probability of his or her return becomes very small. This suggest that from the European perspective, there is indeed an ‘elite brain drain’, as its most talented researchers, once embedded in the North American research system, are not very likely to return.nrpages: 29status: publishe

Does university quality drive international student flows?

We examine whether the (research) quality of a country’s higher education system drives macro-flows of foreign tertiary students in Europe. We use various measures on the quality of a country’s higher education system in an extended gravity model. We find that quality has a positive and significant effect on the size and direction of flows of students exchanged between 18 European countries.higher education; international student mobility; quality indicators; university rankings

Destination choices of mobile European researchers: Europe versus North America

Using a sample of 998 European-born researchers who obtained their PhD in Europe, we study the differences in personal characteristics, motivations and perceived external influencing factors between researchers who are internationally mobile within Europe or internationally mobile to North America. We find that career motivations are more strongly related to mobility to North America, which suggests that Europe is indeed losing its most motivated (and best?) researchers to the United States. However, researchers with previous mobility experience as students within Europe are more likely to remain internationally mobile within Europe, due to their different perception of external influencing factors. Personal influencing factors, which includes things like obtaining a work permission for a spouse, availability of adequate schools for children and the quality and cost of accommodation, are linked to mobility to North America, suggesting that it is easier for researchers to move a family to North America than within Europe.nrpages: 18status: publishe

Mobility decisions of European doctoral researchers

Student mobility remains an important component for the completion of a European Higher Education and Research Area. Two issues at the forefront are increasing student mobility within Europe as well as worries about a ‘brain drain’ of talented graduate students to North America. Unfortunately, there is still relatively little evidence and analysis available to support policy making. In this paper, using a large sample of European researchers, we analyse the decision of students where to pursue their doctoral studies: at home, in another European country or in North America. We find that students from countries with a weaker research and innovation system are more likely to seek their doctoral degree abroad, particularly within Europe. Graduate student mobility within Europe appears more driven by push factors in the home country, i.e. lack of opportunities for researchers, whereas mobility towards North America seems more driven by pull factors within the North American research and education system.nrpages: 21status: publishe