Thesis advisor: Hans deWit / Ethiopia has long been affected by the out flow of its educated citizens. In major host countries, like the United States, the Ethiopian diaspora constitutes a considerable number of highly educated professionals, including those who work in academic and research institutions. Meanwhile, the fast-growing Ethiopian higher education severely suffers from lack of highly qualified faculty. In recent years members of the Ethiopian academic diaspora have been engaged in various initiatives towards supporting the emerging Ethiopian higher education. Yet, these initiatives have been fragmented, individually carried out, and challenged by the lack of a systemic approach, among other things. Further, there are only few studies examining diaspora engagement in the Ethiopian context, much less specific to higher education. The purpose of this research is, therefore, to offer deeper insight into the formation and implementation of transnational engagement initiatives by the Ethiopian academic diaspora. The research explores the motivation for and the modalities of engagement, as well as the enabling and challenging factors. This study employs phenomenological approach and Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice as a lens to analyze data from in-depth interviews with 16 Ethiopian diaspora academics in the US. The research departs from previous works by examining the issues from the perspectives of those who have first-hand experience of the phenomenon. Its findings reveal that transnational engagement among academic diaspora is shaped by complex and multi-layer personal, institutional and broader environmental factors, which transcend common considerations in addressing brain drain. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2020. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Educational Leadership and Higher Education.

American Indian tribes face the phenomenon known across the world as the brain drain. They invest millions of dollars in educating their members, only to have little return on their investments. Many nation members leave reservations to get postsecondary education but never return, contributing to the brain drain. Those who get education off the reservation and choose to return are the exceptions to this rule. Although there is an abundance of literature regarding the brain drain across the world, there has been little research done with American Indians. In order to begin to understand the brain drain phenomenon this study analyzed unstructured qualitative interviews of 17 Navajo Nation members who left their reservation, obtained a degree and returned to work on the reservation. Themes resulting from the hermeneutic analysis of texts that describe the reason why these individuals returned were (a) Family Support, (b) Cultural Identity, (c) Simple Lifestyle, (d) Community and (e) Reservation Economy. The analysis found that constant, lengthy, and meaningful relationships were motivating factors in drawing participants back to contribute to their reservations. Those principles and teachings in the home of these returnees prompts further research in identifying the reasons they were drawn back to their American Indian communities.

The “brain drain” phenomenon encompasses the mass movement of highly educated individuals. Highly-skilled and well-educated migrants are moving to more developed and urban settings, often in search of a higher standard of living and better wages. Since joining the European Union and the Schengen Agreement, Poland and Romania have experienced significant emigration which has subsequently affected their health care systems. Motivations for emigrating from these two countries and the effects emigration has had on patients and other doctors will be considered. The paper also seeks to compare policy responses to the mass medical emigration phenomenon in both countries, as well as the outcomes of such policies. The main methodology of study throughout this project entails a comparative assessment of the governmental policy responses to brain drain. An analysis of Poland’s and Romania’s health care systems will be performed initially. The analysis includes details on the causes and factors that bring about migration, the impact that emigration has had on patients, how doctors remaining in the sending country are affected, and what social upheavals and unrest result from such emigration. Following, the levels and flows of migration are considered for each country, looking at the type of people leaving, whether educated or not, and the range of professions, with a focus on health professionals that are migrating from both countries. After an analysis has been performed for both countries, the results will be compared to one another, paying special attention to any differences and potential reasons for these differences.

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The thesis aimed at explaining why some Zimbabwean teachers have migrated to South Africa while others have not despite experiencing the same economic and political crisis. The focus was on external secondary brain drain, which is the movement of human resources from one country to another within the Southern African Development Community region (SIRDIC, 2008). It was premised on the theoretical argument that uneven development in the SADC region sustains the movement of human resources from the poorer countries to the richer or ‘core’ countries in the region particularly South Africa. The thesis reviewed literature on the Zimbabwean crisis and conducted a quantitative field survey, which was supplemented by a qualitative aspect, in order to analyse the determinants of teacher migration to South Africa. The field survey involved the self-administration of questionnaires by 200 Zimbabwean teachers, half of them teaching in South Africa and the other half in Zimbabwe, as well as collected life stories from five migrant teachers, interviewed four school heads, and perused circulars. The research found that Zimbabwe’s reversed economic growth and social development constituted the background on which teacher migration occurred. This brain drain, which mainly involved highly qualified and specialised mathematics and science teachers, coincided with the peak of the Zimbabwean crisis around 2008 indicating its survival significance. Teacher migration continued after 2008 due networks and teachers’ salaries that remained inadequate as they were close to the poverty line. Several recommendations were made including strategies for reducing the brain drain. / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Development studies)

Zimbabwe is suffering from an acute shortage of teachers mainly as a result of teacher emigration to South Africa and abroad. The southern migration of Zimbabwean teachers has received little research attention which has mainly focused on the migration of medical personnel. The purpose of this study is to uncover the factors that drive the migration of teachers from Zimbabwe to South Africa and to explain how these factors function within a grounded theory approach to teacher migration. To achieve this, a review of literature and an empirical study of a small sample of migrant Zimbabwean teachers resident in South Africa were undertaken. A constructivist grounded theory design was used. A theoretical sampling method generated a sample group of thirteen participants who were all qualified Zimbabwean teachers who had migrated to South Africa and been in the country for between one and five years. Data generation and collection consisted of two phases: in the first phase the participants were asked to write a life history narrative or provide a verbal narrative of their life history focussing on their migration. In the second phase they participated in individual interviews to clarify or expand on issues raised in the first phase. Three stages of coding were used in the analysis of the data, namely initial, intermediate and advanced coding. This led to the generation of a grounded theory on teacher migration. The grounded theory indicated that Zimbabwean teachers see migration as the best way to attain an ideal status. An ideal status is conceived to be the ideal interplay between the work conditions, standard of living and social esteem which teachers believe befits members of their profession. Depending on various criteria, teachers fall into one of the following status categories: further diminished status, diminished status, ideal status or ideal status surpassed. Migration is a drastic and demanding way to improve one’s status and it is adopted by teachers only after other strategies to this end have been exhausted. Weighed against existing theories of migration, the grounded theory contributes to understanding teacher migration and retention through the innovative use of the core category status. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Socio-Education)

Der Übergang Europas in die Wissensgesellschaft ist durch die massive Ausbreitung wissenschaftlichen Wissens und dessen Eindringen in den ökonomischen Produktionsprozess gekennzeichnet. Für die Teilnahme von Regionen an der Wissensgesellschaft ist die Ausbildung junger Akademiker und deren Integration in den regionalen Arbeitsmarkt von entscheidender Bedeutung. In dieser Perspektive wird in der vorliegenden Arbeit die Erwerbssituation und die regionale Mobilität italienischer Hochschulabsolventen aus dem Mezzogiorno betrachtet. Die Untersuchung erfolgt anhand von zwei methodischen Ansätzen. Im ersten empirischen Teil wird umfangreiches Datenmaterial, u.a. die Hochschulabsolventenbefragung des italienischen Statistikamts, ausgewertet. Hierbei zeigt sich, dass der italienische Mezzogiorno trotz vergleichsweise niedriger Absolventenzahlen von einer extremen Jungakademikerarbeitslosigkeit gekennzeichnet ist: Zudem verlassen viele junge Süditaliener vor Studienbeginn oder nach Studienende ihre Heimat, um in Nord- oder Mittelitalien eine Arbeit zu finden, so dass von einem regelrechten Brain drain gesprochen werden kann. Im zweiten empirischen Teil der Arbeit werden in einer hermeneutischen Perspektive sowohl die Erwerbssituation als auch die Mobilitätsbereitschaft von Hochschulabsolventen in Sizilien untersucht. Mit Hilfe von biographisch orientierten, themenzentrierten qualitativen Interviews wird der Versuch unternommen, die Handlungsrationalitäten zu verstehen, die sich hinter den hohen Arbeitslosenzahlen verbergen. Es wird gezeigt, dass die sozialen, kulturellen und institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen die Entstehung komplexer Aktivitätsnetze begünstigen, die den Verbleib in Sizilien auch bei einer unbefriedigenden Erwerbssituation ermöglichen und zu einem permanenten Hinausschieben der Wanderungsentscheidung beitragen. Für die regionale Entwicklung Siziliens, wie auch der übrigen Regionen des Mezzogiorno, kann sich aber gerade der Verbleib junger Hochschulabsolventen in der Unterbeschäftigung als Standortvorteil für wissensorientierte Unternehmen und somit als Entwicklungspotential erweisen. / Europe''s transition towards the Knowledge Society is characterised by major advances in scientific knowledge and its infiltration of the economic production process. To fulfil their role in the Knowledge Society, regions must ensure that young academics can be educated and integrated into the regional labour market. In this perspective the book analyses the employment situation and the regional mobility of young academics in the Italian Mezzogiorno using two different empirical approaches. The first part of this paper investigates the employment situation and regional mobility of young Italian academics using data sources provided by the Italian statistical office, Istat. Despite its comparatively small academic population, the Italian Mezzogiorno is marked by extremely high unemployment levels among young academics. Furthermore, a large number of young Italians from the South leave their home region before starting university or after graduation in order to find jobs in Northern or Central Italy. The second section of this paper draws on empirical evidence to analyse the employment outlook and high level of emigration among young Sicilian graduates from a hermeneutic perspective. With the help of biographical, problem-oriented qualitative interviews, the author attempts to understand the culturally embedded rationalities that inform statistical evidence. Sicily''s social, cultural and institutional framework is shown to promote the growth of highly complex networks of activity that encourage young unemployed graduates to remain in unsatisfactory work environments and constantly postpone their decision to migrate. On a more positive note, the continued presence of young underemployed university graduates may be considered beneficial to the regional development of Sicily, as well as other parts of the Mezzogiorno, if interpreted as a regional advantage for knowledge-intensive industries in their search for new locations.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

The thesis aimed at explaining why some Zimbabwean teachers have migrated to South Africa while others have not despite experiencing the same economic and political crisis. The focus was on external secondary brain drain, which is the movement of human resources from one country to another within the Southern African Development Community region (SIRDIC, 2008). It was premised on the theoretical argument that uneven development in the SADC region sustains the movement of human resources from the poorer countries to the richer or ‘core’ countries in the region particularly South Africa. The thesis reviewed literature on the Zimbabwean crisis and conducted a quantitative field survey, which was supplemented by a qualitative aspect, in order to analyse the determinants of teacher migration to South Africa. The field survey involved the self-administration of questionnaires by 200 Zimbabwean teachers, half of them teaching in South Africa and the other half in Zimbabwe, as well as collected life stories from five migrant teachers, interviewed four school heads, and perused circulars. The research found that Zimbabwe’s reversed economic growth and social development constituted the background on which teacher migration occurred. This brain drain, which mainly involved highly qualified and specialised mathematics and science teachers, coincided with the peak of the Zimbabwean crisis around 2008 indicating its survival significance. Teacher migration continued after 2008 due networks and teachers’ salaries that remained inadequate as they were close to the poverty line. Several recommendations were made including strategies for reducing the brain drain. / Development Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (Development studies)

Zimbabwe is suffering from an acute shortage of teachers mainly as a result of teacher emigration to South Africa and abroad. The southern migration of Zimbabwean teachers has received little research attention which has mainly focused on the migration of medical personnel. The purpose of this study is to uncover the factors that drive the migration of teachers from Zimbabwe to South Africa and to explain how these factors function within a grounded theory approach to teacher migration. To achieve this, a review of literature and an empirical study of a small sample of migrant Zimbabwean teachers resident in South Africa were undertaken. A constructivist grounded theory design was used. A theoretical sampling method generated a sample group of thirteen participants who were all qualified Zimbabwean teachers who had migrated to South Africa and been in the country for between one and five years. Data generation and collection consisted of two phases: in the first phase the participants were asked to write a life history narrative or provide a verbal narrative of their life history focussing on their migration. In the second phase they participated in individual interviews to clarify or expand on issues raised in the first phase. Three stages of coding were used in the analysis of the data, namely initial, intermediate and advanced coding. This led to the generation of a grounded theory on teacher migration. The grounded theory indicated that Zimbabwean teachers see migration as the best way to attain an ideal status. An ideal status is conceived to be the ideal interplay between the work conditions, standard of living and social esteem which teachers believe befits members of their profession. Depending on various criteria, teachers fall into one of the following status categories: further diminished status, diminished status, ideal status or ideal status surpassed. Migration is a drastic and demanding way to improve one’s status and it is adopted by teachers only after other strategies to this end have been exhausted. Weighed against existing theories of migration, the grounded theory contributes to understanding teacher migration and retention through the innovative use of the core category status. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Socio-Education)