Origins and destinations known: A tracer study of international African doctoral graduates from South Africa’s universities

Abstract

The mobility of the highly skilled, summarized as brain drain, brain circulation and brain gain, remains a contentious issue for policy. Even so, the evidence base to inform policy remains poor. This gap is of particular importance to policymakers in countries that experience brain drain. This paper reports on the findings of a tracer study of international African doctoral graduates of South Africa’s leading universities. Since access to student records was problematic, the sample frame was developed by the inspection of library holdings of dissertations. This approach allowed for a representative sample to be surveyed. Contrary to the expectation that the majority of graduates would depart from Africa as a brain drain, it was found that the majority returned home on completion. Some 10% remained in South Africa as a brain gain to the host country, with but 5% leaving Africa. The outcome of their temporary migration was brain circulation and talent development.