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Indian “Brain Drain” Trends in STEM Fields and Influence on American
Immigration Policy
Sean Porter
Prof. Bruhn
International Policy Seminar
6 December 2012
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In this paper I would like to follow the notions of both the positive and negative aspects
of the “brain drain” and the effects that this phenomena has on some aspects of policy,
especially in terms of immigration policy. Specifically, I want to follow the path of India
in its sending of STEM students and professionals to the United States, noting the scale
on which these foreign nationals came and the degree at which they stayed. From this
information I will follow the growth and subsequent decline of these Indian STEM
students looking for advanced schooling and employment in the U.S. as compared to the
development of their home country in regard to education. Further, I will make the case
that the combination of previous lack of attention by Western states and the positive
impact of this “brain drain” on countries out of which these professional individuals have
come have led to less interest to attend Western schools as opposed to schools in the
country of origin, especially when the country of origin has made great developmental
strides in education as India has done. In some senses “brain drain” has had the capacity
to be beneficial in certain situations, as seen in India as of late. I will argue that the
United States has noticed these failings and, as a result, is making strides towards re-
gaining an edge in the “brain drain” arena by working toward more accommodating
immigration policy for these STEM foreign nationals. From this line of logic, I will argue
that India has served as a marker for this progression of growth and advancement. And
that as the number of Indian students tapers off from Western States, the U.S. becomes
more aware of the necessity of foreign STEM students and is making strides to stay
competitive with foreign education and, subsequently, economic markets by changing or
shifting policy.	
  
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Over the last few decades many people have seen “brain drain” as a phenomena that has
yielded negative consequences on either side of the issue. These individuals cite the
rising rate of immigration from the host country as negative, further making the case that
it is causing a deep dependence of the host on foreign human capital. In addition, with
this “brain drain” there has been a decrease, at least in the case of the U.S., in the viability
of employing American citizens relative to the preferential treatment of foreign nationals
who, in many cases, are in the host country solely for the purpose of that particular
occupation. This argument is subsequently buttressed by the fact that at, least in the case
of India with 26.7% (IIE, 2012), there is a large number of foreign nationals involved in
Optional Practical Training, or OPT, which allow these individuals to stay in country and
work within their fields of study on a special visa. By doing this, the argument assumes
that notion those employment opportunities would otherwise be open to citizens of the
United States. These individuals further make the case that there is an influx in the
foreign nationals by citing the high numbers of estimated unauthorized immigrants in the
United States with the data provided by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of
Immigration Statistics. The assertion is that, as a result of entrance into the country and
the overstaying of their visas, many of those involved in this “brain drain” have become
unauthorized immigrants. Similarly skeptics assume that many foreign nationals simply
use education as a means of immigration to these Western countries, citing the estimated
high of numbers unauthorized immigrants, including people with Chinese and Indian
origins, into U.S. states which are coincidentally noted as amongst the most desirable
places for study by foreign nationals when studying abroad in the United States. Using
the DHS data, it can be noted that both China and India increased their number of
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estimated unauthorized immigrants from 2000 to 2011, China by nearly half and India by
almost 100%(Hoefer et al, 2012, pg 5). The argument further goes on to substantiate
these arguments by making the case that nearly a third of those unauthorized immigrants
were between the ages of 25 and 34, an average age for many people enrolled in or
finishing masters and doctorate programs. From this, the final part of the argument is that
of the proportion of these unauthorized immigrants in states in the U.S. that have been
noted as centers for higher education, notably California, Texas, and New York which
host nearly a third of foreign students enrolled in this country. In these cases of the
complex and usually ineffective immigration policies of the U.S. that are supposed to
monitor foreign nationals for study and subsequently work are often seen as an
intensifying part of the “brain drain”, most notably when referring to STEM fields, and in
reducing the number of host country citizens involved in the work in these STEM fields.
Many of those with negative views on STEM fields and many of the foreign nationals
that come to the U.S. to study use the notion that “foreign students tend to major in
expensive, technical fields and high proportions are in graduate study.”(Agarwal &
Winkler, 1985, pg. 520) and that in this way these students are siphoning off resources
that could be better put to use in other areas of study, or that the expense of these persons
in these fields is outweighing the usefulness of the fields themselves.	
  
To contrast with some of the ideas previously presented and to draw attention to some of
the fallacies, including the fact that the negative assertion of Indian foreign nationals are
coming into to U.S. simply to live and to stay as unauthorized is not an argument of
causation, it is an argument of correlation at best. Simply because a group of foreign
nationals are estimated to live in places that correspond to noted university hubs for
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STEM fields and graduate study in general does not mean that the group is the sole cause
for the rates of estimated unauthorized immigration. In addition to this notion there are
further contrasts to the proposed negative notions illustrated earlier including ideas that
the phenomena of “brain drain” promotes consequences of a positive nature and that this
phenomena needs to be examined, at least on some scale, by both the host and the
sending countries. The most obvious reason which presents a different perspective than
prevented before, is the fact that there is a slowing of the interest in STEM fields overall
in the U.S. as many students and professionals have shifted from those fields to areas
associated with economics and management. In this regard, it would behoove any country
in this situation to make any effort to prevent an unnecessary decline in fields so
important to staying economically competitive as more and more people outside of the
U.S. have made greater efforts in STEM fields, most notably the Swiss with the Large
Hadron Collider, leaving the particle collider in the U.S., which was the largest of its
kind, a relic. In this sense, we are seeing that the “brain drain” and subsequent
competition for these persons and resources straddles the lines of the intellectual and the
economic, as education and resources therein have been linked to long-term economic
success of many countries. Similarly, the idea that “brain drain” can provide necessary
human capital for the growth of the economy by bringing the people with the most
ingenuity and wherewithal by offering those persons to have a better opportunity in a
more developed country as opposed to a less developed country. Even moving beyond
the good possibly done for the host country, there is the point that many of the more
motivated persons within these developing countries, because of seeing their fellow
countrymen making these strides and succeeding on some scale, might also make a
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greater investment in knowledge, a long-term engine for a country’s growth. In his article
examining this very subject Mountford finds that the country of origin can benefit from
“brain drain” when “educational decisions are endogenous and if successful emigration is
not a certainty”(Mountford, 1997, 288), meaning that when the country has control over
its own educational system in terms of the structures needed for success in that particular
country relative to the economy and the capability to leave that country through
education or otherwise is stifled by immigration policies in either the country of origin or
the country desired to travel to there can be an overall increase in production from the
country of origin in many cases. Combining some of the ideas presented earlier in this
section, Mountford goes on to assert more deeply that the sheer fact that there is a
possibility of migration to a country with higher wages there could be more of a focus on
education, and even if there is a portion number of persons are “drained”, if that number
of is not particularly large the overall growth of human capital can outweigh this “brain
drain”(Mountford, 1997, 288). In this sense Mountford is making the case that even
within the negative effects of “brain drain” there can be this silver lining of a slower,
more deeply seated growth within the country of origin. 	
  
With all of this talk of the positive and negative consequences and aspects of “brain
drain” there has been a surprising lack of definition of the subject. “Brain Drain” in its
simplest form is the migration of human capital from one place to another. Human capital
in this situation refers to people with professionals and those with an education past 12
years, especially those in the STEM fields. When speaking about this “brain drain”, the
usual flow of human capital is from less developed countries to more developed countries
because of the greater advantages the more developed country may have in terms of
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training and employment. This outflow of these persons is largely seen from places such
as China, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Canada and into many Western countries
including the U.S., U.K., France, and other Western European countries. For the purposes
of this research paper I will focus on some of the consequences of “brain drain” on the
relationship between India and the United States with special regard to STEM fields. The
reason for choosing these two countries is the fact that they have had an exceedingly long
history in terms of international relations. As alluded to earlier, the U.S. is one larger
trading partners with India. In terms of percentages, the CIA world factbook places the
United States within India’s top 5 trading partners with both imports and exports as of
2011. The U.S. in terms of imports makes up 4.9% of India’s partners in that. Further,
when describing India’s export percentages to the U.S., it can be seen that a tenth of
overall exports from India are consumed by the U.S. These economic factors combined
with the fact that India has been amongst the largest contributors of foreign students to
the United States over the last quarter-century, make this an effective and apt relationship
to observe within the parameters of this research paper.	
  
In order to further clarify any preconceptions it is necessary to define what is included in
the STEM fields. These fields have historically have been defined by their parts, of which
the brunt includes sciences, technologies, engineering, and mathematics. These defining
fields have been, over the years, loosened to be more inclusive of certain sections of the
more empirical humanities, which includes some types of psychology, and overtly health-
related fields. Widely, this definition does not include fields such as political science and
the growing field of sociology despite each of their largely empirically data-driven
aspects. Essentially, the definition of what constitutes a STEM field is a task in itself. The
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single unifying force in the field that I have found is the fact that each of these has some
empirical aspect to it. Each can be tested and re-created in some way or form. The
difficulty is that the differences in how these fields explore their subjects bar them from
inclusion into the grouping of STEM in the perspective of certain institutions. Where the
Department of Homeland Security may use one set of standards of defining STEM fields
for particular data-collecting purposes, the National Science Foundation may have a
wider, more inclusive set of standards in order to define the parameters of particular
projects. 	
  
Taking a deeper look into the STEM field and some of the statistics therein, it may be
effortless to assume that the United States has a relatively good standing in terms of
receiving students in those fields and in most fields overall— this, however, is a fallacy.
Yes the U.S. has quite high number of international students enrolled. In fact, according
to the Institution of International Education in their most recent briefing on international
education, in 2011/2012 the international student enrollment rose 6% to a record high of
764,495 students. This may seem like a strong move forward for the United States’
higher education system in terms of inclusion of international persons, which it is, but
when those numbers are compared to total U.S. higher education numbers they seem
miniscule at less than 4%. Even so, within this group of students the largest single
grouping in terms of field is that of STEM. This field is followed in popularity by
Management and Business, illustrating the slow but imminent move towards fields with a
greater emphasis on the economy. However, with 41% of students majoring in STEM
fields it is a likely result that much of the funding for foreign nationals would be aimed at
this particularly fruitful set of majors with its long-term economic viability in terms of
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large-scale competition on the global market, especially considering the growth of
demand for many STEM graduates with special regard to engineers and computer
scientists. The IIE further made the case that many of the trends in growth for these
STEM fields and international enrollment on the whole will continue into the next year.	
  
From the viewpoint of Export-Import Bank President and Chair Fred Hochberg, “brain
drain” is a necessary component of an effective, developed economy. He further noted
that with his position at the Ex-Im Bank one of the ideas they worked towards is that
“We’d like to import entrepreneurs and then export their products”(Hochberg, The
Atlantic, March 2012) in essence creating a situation beneficial to the U.S. as a host
country. At the Atlantic’s Economic Summit in March 2012, he made the point of
explaining how, as a result of the archaic immigration policies in place, there is a slowing
of interest of foreign nationals in the opportunities possible in Western nations, the U.S.
notably, when those possibilities are weighed against the difficulties of migration, and
possible immigration, to those nations. With this in mind Hochberg suggested that it
would be economically advantageous for the U.S. to relax some restrictions immigration
policies have on these desirable foreign nationals. From his perspective on this matter
Hochberg seems to be aiming to persuade his audience that despite the short-term pain of
an increased foreign national population and the work it would take in Congress to pass
necessary reform in this area, the long-term benefits would far outweigh any of these
difficulties for the U.S.	
  
Watching the noted author and theoretical physicist Michio Kaku describe his knowledge
on the subject of “brain drain” allowed for essentially a ground floor look at some of the
reasons for it and the long-term consequences if things continue as they are. The co-
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founder of string theory had this to say about the subject “50% of all Ph.D physicist
students in graduate school are foreign-born. At State University in New York it is 100%
foreign-born. What we are witnessing is a hemorrhaging of our scientific elite,
compensated for by foreigners who then populate our Ph.D. institutions. Now, however,
China is saying ‘Come on back. We’ll give you a laboratory. We’ll give you anything
you want.’” (Kaku, BookTV, 3 Oct. 2010) In this way Kaku is making the point that as
less and less resources are put into STEM fields in the United States, other developed and
developing countries, India and China included, are taking it upon themselves to drain
some of the human capital back and create more opportunities for their respective
countries. He goes on to explain that the retention of these individuals is becoming part of
the equation as well; when looking at the fact that much of the funding for projects and
programs in the United States has become stagnant, not growing, and with that retention
of individuals is a problem because the other countries vying for these persons have more
to offer and per person than the United States. All of this taken into account, Kaku makes
the case that there is a slowing of the “brain drain” which he feels could erode the
scientific base in the United States and, eventually, the economy.	
  
As an immediate representation of the efforts Kaku suggested and some of the
consequences he predicted, the National Journal released an article on 28 November 2012
following the progress and difficulty of passing a newly revised STEM immigration bill
through the House of Representatives. In her article “House Poised to Pass STEM
Immigration Bill”, Juliana Gruenwald follows the context of and details surrounding
Lamar Smith’s, R-Texas, newly drafted version of this bill. As it stands the proposed bill
would “allow more foreign students who graduated from U.S. schools with advanced
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technical degrees to stay in the country” (Gruenwald, National Journal), effectively
attempting to resolve some of the problems the U.S. has had with retention in this area as
the global competition to acquire this human capital increases. Gruenwald makes the
assertion that during this lame-duck period in Congress, this bill will pass through the
House with a majority vote if the closeness of the failed two-thirds vote on this issue
earlier has any influence on the impending debates and vote on this issue. Portions of this
particular policy are very much striking, including the fact that this bill would make
efforts to make it easier for immediate family members of STEM green card holders to
stay in the U.S. I find this an especially effective means of retention as many of the
graduated STEM field students have spouses and children that would otherwise be onset
with the difficulties of the existing immigration policies. In this way, retaining a family as
a whole would likely be more effective than simply allowing the STEM field student to
stay in a foreign country alone. A further significant portion of this bill is the fact that it
allows for the rolling over of unused STEM green cards in the fiscal years of 2013-2016.
With this addendum, it seems as though the bill is attempting not to waste any single
resource in terms of gaining professionals in the STEM field. If there is a decline in one
of the years included, the excess can simply be transferred to a pool for the possible
influx the next year; effectively, the idea of “waste not, want not” applied to foreign
intellectuals. In addition to these components of this bill is the elimination of the
Diversity Visa program that uses a lottery on 55,000 green cards to people from countries
with low immigration rates to the U.S. (Gruenwald, National Journal). This has been a
point of contention between the Democrats and Republicans, as the Democrats are
proposing wide-spanning immigration reform involving the Diversity Visa program
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whereas the Republicans see this particular policy as ineffective in this day and age. The
irony of this all is that “Both Democrats and Republicans support the goal of allowing
more skilled foreign students who graduate with advanced STEM degrees to remain in
the country” (Gruenwald, National Journal). The common ground shared by these groups,
the problem is how and to what degree either group plans on implementing their strategy.
This is an especially difficult process in this case seeing as Republicans control the House
and the Democrat-controlled Senate is unlikely to pass this bill. On a wider scale, the
White House and other Democratic leadership has spoken out on the perceived short-
sighted and limited scope of the proposed bill that “ ‘allocate immigrant visas for
advanced graduates of a limited set of STEM degree programs’ “(Gruenwald, National
Journal)	
  
In the situation presented, the STEM immigration bill aptly represents some of the ideas
presented earlier about the consequences and turns of policy and ideology when it came
to “brain drain” in the United States. As seen overall, neither political party wants to
move away from accommodating foreign nationals into the American society and
economy, the difference is the blunt way the Republicans posed their policy in trying to
retain as many STEM students from around the world as possible while the Democrats
are attempting to create an overall change in policy to spur growth in multiple sectors
without any more special regard to those persons in STEM fields. Both sides of the aisle
in the United States have recognized the necessity of retaining these STEM persons who
have been brought in for particular projects and who have already had expansive
experience with the subject as a result of American schooling, otherwise it would be
simply a waste of resources to bring these persons and their families in to have them
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move back to their countries of origin to do similar work after receiving so much U.S.
training. 	
  
India has for the longest time been the rule when it came to both foreign students in
STEM fields and foreign students in general in higher education in the United States. As
noted by the IIE, until recently India has been the country with the largest number of
students studying abroad in the United States, undergraduate or otherwise. As of late
India has become the second leading place of origin for students coming to the U.S., with
the interesting addition that more than half of students coming are doing so as graduate
students in some of these more technical, STEM fields. The distribution of Indian
students in American institutions of higher educational spreads in a way worth noting
when it is seen that over a third, 36.7%, of students are in engineering fields, 21.7% in
math/computer fields, 14% in business/management, and 11.4% in physical/life sciences.
From this data it can taken that the Indian foreign nationals enrolled in American higher
education institutions are exceedingly important both for their sheer size and presence in
these institutions, in addition to their overall focus towards fields which are becoming
more and more important on a world stage all of this is in terms of STEM fields, their
expansion and usefulness, and the way in which the United States holds itself in regard to
economic and technological advancement.
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In recent years, however, India has fallen behind China in the number of students sent to
these American institutions for a combination of reasons. First, it is necessary to look at
the exponential growth of the number of Chinese people being sent to these places of
higher education as the number of Indians is large, but has tapered off within the last few
years. The sheer proportions of China over the last decade in terms of population and
expansion rate therein may have served as a factor in the exponential growth within the
last 5 years. From this idea it is a simple jump to the fact that China has become an
economic powerhouse and is massaging some STEM fields while into the fields of
business/management. This is simply an aside to describe a more global shift and how
some countries are allocating resources based on world markets, with some focusing
more on the technical and others focusing more on the economic.	
  
Overall India has over the last half-century been amongst the most adamant countries in
sending students to the United States. In fact, from Wasem’s work with the
Congressional Research Service it was found that “India was the top sending country for
STEM graduates enrolled in masters’ degree programs and represented 56% of all STEM
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students seeking masters’ degrees in 2009.”(Wasem, 2012, pg 5) Examining this
statement, it is simple to see how this particular set of people in this rapidly growing field
could have such a great impact, negative or positive. In more recent times the numbers
have only changed slightly but have, as trends have shown, begun to show signs of
stagnation. From the Institution of International Education’s research this year I found
that as of late the trends in Indian student enrollment increased from the fiscal year
2000/2001-2008/2009 when the numbers stabilized and ever since that the rate of growth
has slowed, even declining a bit. The chart, as seen above, does seem to make the
allusion that these numbers of students of Indian origin will hold stable, possibly only
declining slightly more in the upcoming fiscal years. This decline may have been an
effect of the immigration policy of the United States that has created a situation in which
it is especially difficult for foreign nationals to stay and work within the host country
after graduation, thus reducing interest, at least on a small scale, to make the effort to
study in the U.S. at all because of the lack of post-graduate opportunities. Another likely
possibility, supported in some ways by Mountford’s work, is the fact that things are
improving in terms of education in the country of origin as a result of the investment of
Indian citizens into education and training after observing the possibility of moving
toward higher wages and subsequently not emigrating to the U.S. for one reason or
another. According to India’s Department of Higher Education, there has been an
expansion of the number of university/university-level institutions by nearly 20 times
over the last 60 years. With this in mind, it would seem more apt, because of the
investment in human capital in India and in spite of some “brain drain” for India’s
students to stay within their country and save both effort and funds by doing so. Some of
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the assumptions made by Beine et al are demonstrated with the growth of the higher
education institutions in India, when they make the point that education has been seen as
a major determinant of long-term growth. I mean this statement in that with the increase
in human capital as a result of possible opportunities abroad, those persons who did not
partake in migration to Western States such as the U.S. made greater efforts within their
own country and gained new opportunities therein. As Agarwal and Winkler noted, “The
number of students attending U.S. colleges as a proportion of students attending colleges
anywhere…has declined”(Agarwal and Winkler, 1985, pg 512) which I take to mean that
opportunities to attend college in their home countries has improved. This notion is very
much observable in the case of India with the increase in higher education institutions
and the decline/stagnation of individuals from India attending higher education
institutions in the United States.	
  
It is an oddity however that these grand decisions are being made surrounding a relatively
small population of people, but have an exceedingly large set of possible consequences.
Wasem contends, “Some researchers warn of a ‘reverse brain drain’ because the United
States does not allocate what they consider to be a sufficient number of visas for high-
skilled immigrants to fuel the economy.”(Wasem, 2012, pg 2). In this way Wasem is
strengthening the arguments made by Kaku and Hochberg regarding the deficiency of
resources fueling highly skilled persons, especially those in fields that need both people
and capital like STEM to keep programs viable for the future. India is, and has been,
showing signs of this ‘reverse brain drain’ especially when looking at the 2009 decline
and stagnation of students from that country to the U.S. Such declines combined with
India’s increase in higher education institutions and the constantly expanding market for
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STEM students and graduates are making the United States seem less attractive an option
in terms of education and work, especially when thinking about the frustrating
immigration policies. 	
  
Further, when looking more in depth into these consequences and phenomena on an
economic level, the size of the policy decisions and shifts from country to country, the
cost of the “brain drain” can be imagined with a better point of reference. Despite the
amount of funds required to run many of these STEM programs, the U.S. Department of
Commerce noted that “growth in STEM jobs was three times as fast as growth in non-
STEM jobs over the past 10 years” (Wasem, 2012, pg 2) With this observation the idea of
the importance that STEM investment is paramount in keeping up with not only technical
advances, but also economic trends. And with the recent political shifts towards
addressing some of the issues of STEM immigration, it can be seen that the U.S.
government has finally come to understand magnitude of what the STEM field can
provide to the state economically. Imbued with this knowledge it would seem like the
recent and fervent work toward legislation to retain foreign STEM students and to expand
the program to be more inclusive of foreign nationals in STEM fields is simply an effort
to protect the economy from what could be a STEM-based recession. With the continued
growth of the STEM field and its impact on the economy it seems almost comical that the
growth of funding necessary to keep this field as advanced as it needs to be in order to
compete on the world stage has come to a semi-vegetative state. And as the funding has
stayed the same while demand has risen, there has been an aforementioned stagnation of
these STEM students from one of the largest providers of these students in India. 	
  
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As shown, the negative effects of “brain drain” in the case of STEM fields is very much
outweighed by the necessity of persons in those fields in cases of both the country of
origin and the host country. From the host country’s perspective, there may be a growth
in the population of students from India, and as a result there may be an increase in
foreign nationals with visas as shown by the stay rates of doctorate recipients observed by
Finn which included India as a country with above average stay rates compared with
other countries (Finn, 2010, ii). Noting this fact but not taking it for a more than an
observation of trends, the idea that unauthorized immigration increased as a result of
increases in STEM students and graduates as part of “brain drain” seems a bit far-fetched.
And from this the positive effects on the United States are quickly being realized as this
new Technological Revolution is being fueled by the STEM students that the U.S. is
teaching and training, but which are quickly returning to their countries of origin for less
immigration difficulty and greater long-term opportunities than are offered in the United
States. India has been noticed in this regard when looking at recent pushes in American
politics to ameliorate the immigration problems for STEM students and re-gain a “brain
drain” edge. 	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
	
  
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Bibliography
Wasem, Ruth Ellen, Immigration of Foreign Nationals with STEM Degrees.
Congressional Research Service, 18 September 2012.
Finn, Michael G., Stay Rates of Foreign Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities.
Oak Ridge Institution for Science and Education. January 2012
Chiswick, Barry R., The Economics of Immigration: Selected Papers of Barry R.
Chiswick. Policy Analysis of Foreign Student visas.
Carrington, William J., and Detragiache, Enrica, How Extensive is the Brain Drain,
Finance and Development, June 1999
Carrington, William J. and Detragiache, Enrica, How Big Is the Brain Drain? (July 1998).
IMF Working Paper, Vol. , pp. 1-27, 1998. Available at SSRN:
http://ssrn.com/abstract=882624
Stark, Oded, Helmenstein, Christian, and Prskawetz, Alexia. A brain gain with a brain
drain. Economic Letters, Volume 55, issue 2, 29 August 1997, pg 227-234.
Mountford, Andrew, Can Brain drain be good for the growth of the source economy?
Journal of Development Economics, Volume 53, issue 2, August 1997, pg 287-303.
Beine, Michel, Docquier, Frederic, and Rapoport, Hillel. Brain drain and economic
growth; theory and evidence. Journal of Development Economics, Volume 64, issue 1,
February 2001, pg 275-289.
Hochberg, Fred, The Atlantic’s Economy Summit, 14 Mar. 2012. The Atlantic.
C-SPAN 3, http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/304905-11
“Michio Kaku.” In Depth. C-SPAN: BookTV. 3 Oct. 2010.
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/295788-1
Open Doors 2012: Report on International Educational Exchange, International
Education Week, 13 Nov. 2012, Institute of International
Education, Washington, D.C.
Gruenwald, Juliana, House Poised to Pass STEM Immigration Bill, The National Journal,
28 November 2012.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/house-poised-to-pass-stem-immigration-
bill-20121128?mrefid=mostViewed

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Indian “Brain Drain” Trends in STEM Fields and Influence on American Immigration Policy

  • 1.   Porter  1   Indian “Brain Drain” Trends in STEM Fields and Influence on American Immigration Policy Sean Porter Prof. Bruhn International Policy Seminar 6 December 2012
  • 2.   Porter  2   In this paper I would like to follow the notions of both the positive and negative aspects of the “brain drain” and the effects that this phenomena has on some aspects of policy, especially in terms of immigration policy. Specifically, I want to follow the path of India in its sending of STEM students and professionals to the United States, noting the scale on which these foreign nationals came and the degree at which they stayed. From this information I will follow the growth and subsequent decline of these Indian STEM students looking for advanced schooling and employment in the U.S. as compared to the development of their home country in regard to education. Further, I will make the case that the combination of previous lack of attention by Western states and the positive impact of this “brain drain” on countries out of which these professional individuals have come have led to less interest to attend Western schools as opposed to schools in the country of origin, especially when the country of origin has made great developmental strides in education as India has done. In some senses “brain drain” has had the capacity to be beneficial in certain situations, as seen in India as of late. I will argue that the United States has noticed these failings and, as a result, is making strides towards re- gaining an edge in the “brain drain” arena by working toward more accommodating immigration policy for these STEM foreign nationals. From this line of logic, I will argue that India has served as a marker for this progression of growth and advancement. And that as the number of Indian students tapers off from Western States, the U.S. becomes more aware of the necessity of foreign STEM students and is making strides to stay competitive with foreign education and, subsequently, economic markets by changing or shifting policy.  
  • 3.   Porter  3   Over the last few decades many people have seen “brain drain” as a phenomena that has yielded negative consequences on either side of the issue. These individuals cite the rising rate of immigration from the host country as negative, further making the case that it is causing a deep dependence of the host on foreign human capital. In addition, with this “brain drain” there has been a decrease, at least in the case of the U.S., in the viability of employing American citizens relative to the preferential treatment of foreign nationals who, in many cases, are in the host country solely for the purpose of that particular occupation. This argument is subsequently buttressed by the fact that at, least in the case of India with 26.7% (IIE, 2012), there is a large number of foreign nationals involved in Optional Practical Training, or OPT, which allow these individuals to stay in country and work within their fields of study on a special visa. By doing this, the argument assumes that notion those employment opportunities would otherwise be open to citizens of the United States. These individuals further make the case that there is an influx in the foreign nationals by citing the high numbers of estimated unauthorized immigrants in the United States with the data provided by the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Immigration Statistics. The assertion is that, as a result of entrance into the country and the overstaying of their visas, many of those involved in this “brain drain” have become unauthorized immigrants. Similarly skeptics assume that many foreign nationals simply use education as a means of immigration to these Western countries, citing the estimated high of numbers unauthorized immigrants, including people with Chinese and Indian origins, into U.S. states which are coincidentally noted as amongst the most desirable places for study by foreign nationals when studying abroad in the United States. Using the DHS data, it can be noted that both China and India increased their number of
  • 4.   Porter  4   estimated unauthorized immigrants from 2000 to 2011, China by nearly half and India by almost 100%(Hoefer et al, 2012, pg 5). The argument further goes on to substantiate these arguments by making the case that nearly a third of those unauthorized immigrants were between the ages of 25 and 34, an average age for many people enrolled in or finishing masters and doctorate programs. From this, the final part of the argument is that of the proportion of these unauthorized immigrants in states in the U.S. that have been noted as centers for higher education, notably California, Texas, and New York which host nearly a third of foreign students enrolled in this country. In these cases of the complex and usually ineffective immigration policies of the U.S. that are supposed to monitor foreign nationals for study and subsequently work are often seen as an intensifying part of the “brain drain”, most notably when referring to STEM fields, and in reducing the number of host country citizens involved in the work in these STEM fields. Many of those with negative views on STEM fields and many of the foreign nationals that come to the U.S. to study use the notion that “foreign students tend to major in expensive, technical fields and high proportions are in graduate study.”(Agarwal & Winkler, 1985, pg. 520) and that in this way these students are siphoning off resources that could be better put to use in other areas of study, or that the expense of these persons in these fields is outweighing the usefulness of the fields themselves.   To contrast with some of the ideas previously presented and to draw attention to some of the fallacies, including the fact that the negative assertion of Indian foreign nationals are coming into to U.S. simply to live and to stay as unauthorized is not an argument of causation, it is an argument of correlation at best. Simply because a group of foreign nationals are estimated to live in places that correspond to noted university hubs for
  • 5.   Porter  5   STEM fields and graduate study in general does not mean that the group is the sole cause for the rates of estimated unauthorized immigration. In addition to this notion there are further contrasts to the proposed negative notions illustrated earlier including ideas that the phenomena of “brain drain” promotes consequences of a positive nature and that this phenomena needs to be examined, at least on some scale, by both the host and the sending countries. The most obvious reason which presents a different perspective than prevented before, is the fact that there is a slowing of the interest in STEM fields overall in the U.S. as many students and professionals have shifted from those fields to areas associated with economics and management. In this regard, it would behoove any country in this situation to make any effort to prevent an unnecessary decline in fields so important to staying economically competitive as more and more people outside of the U.S. have made greater efforts in STEM fields, most notably the Swiss with the Large Hadron Collider, leaving the particle collider in the U.S., which was the largest of its kind, a relic. In this sense, we are seeing that the “brain drain” and subsequent competition for these persons and resources straddles the lines of the intellectual and the economic, as education and resources therein have been linked to long-term economic success of many countries. Similarly, the idea that “brain drain” can provide necessary human capital for the growth of the economy by bringing the people with the most ingenuity and wherewithal by offering those persons to have a better opportunity in a more developed country as opposed to a less developed country. Even moving beyond the good possibly done for the host country, there is the point that many of the more motivated persons within these developing countries, because of seeing their fellow countrymen making these strides and succeeding on some scale, might also make a
  • 6.   Porter  6   greater investment in knowledge, a long-term engine for a country’s growth. In his article examining this very subject Mountford finds that the country of origin can benefit from “brain drain” when “educational decisions are endogenous and if successful emigration is not a certainty”(Mountford, 1997, 288), meaning that when the country has control over its own educational system in terms of the structures needed for success in that particular country relative to the economy and the capability to leave that country through education or otherwise is stifled by immigration policies in either the country of origin or the country desired to travel to there can be an overall increase in production from the country of origin in many cases. Combining some of the ideas presented earlier in this section, Mountford goes on to assert more deeply that the sheer fact that there is a possibility of migration to a country with higher wages there could be more of a focus on education, and even if there is a portion number of persons are “drained”, if that number of is not particularly large the overall growth of human capital can outweigh this “brain drain”(Mountford, 1997, 288). In this sense Mountford is making the case that even within the negative effects of “brain drain” there can be this silver lining of a slower, more deeply seated growth within the country of origin.   With all of this talk of the positive and negative consequences and aspects of “brain drain” there has been a surprising lack of definition of the subject. “Brain Drain” in its simplest form is the migration of human capital from one place to another. Human capital in this situation refers to people with professionals and those with an education past 12 years, especially those in the STEM fields. When speaking about this “brain drain”, the usual flow of human capital is from less developed countries to more developed countries because of the greater advantages the more developed country may have in terms of
  • 7.   Porter  7   training and employment. This outflow of these persons is largely seen from places such as China, India, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, and Canada and into many Western countries including the U.S., U.K., France, and other Western European countries. For the purposes of this research paper I will focus on some of the consequences of “brain drain” on the relationship between India and the United States with special regard to STEM fields. The reason for choosing these two countries is the fact that they have had an exceedingly long history in terms of international relations. As alluded to earlier, the U.S. is one larger trading partners with India. In terms of percentages, the CIA world factbook places the United States within India’s top 5 trading partners with both imports and exports as of 2011. The U.S. in terms of imports makes up 4.9% of India’s partners in that. Further, when describing India’s export percentages to the U.S., it can be seen that a tenth of overall exports from India are consumed by the U.S. These economic factors combined with the fact that India has been amongst the largest contributors of foreign students to the United States over the last quarter-century, make this an effective and apt relationship to observe within the parameters of this research paper.   In order to further clarify any preconceptions it is necessary to define what is included in the STEM fields. These fields have historically have been defined by their parts, of which the brunt includes sciences, technologies, engineering, and mathematics. These defining fields have been, over the years, loosened to be more inclusive of certain sections of the more empirical humanities, which includes some types of psychology, and overtly health- related fields. Widely, this definition does not include fields such as political science and the growing field of sociology despite each of their largely empirically data-driven aspects. Essentially, the definition of what constitutes a STEM field is a task in itself. The
  • 8.   Porter  8   single unifying force in the field that I have found is the fact that each of these has some empirical aspect to it. Each can be tested and re-created in some way or form. The difficulty is that the differences in how these fields explore their subjects bar them from inclusion into the grouping of STEM in the perspective of certain institutions. Where the Department of Homeland Security may use one set of standards of defining STEM fields for particular data-collecting purposes, the National Science Foundation may have a wider, more inclusive set of standards in order to define the parameters of particular projects.   Taking a deeper look into the STEM field and some of the statistics therein, it may be effortless to assume that the United States has a relatively good standing in terms of receiving students in those fields and in most fields overall— this, however, is a fallacy. Yes the U.S. has quite high number of international students enrolled. In fact, according to the Institution of International Education in their most recent briefing on international education, in 2011/2012 the international student enrollment rose 6% to a record high of 764,495 students. This may seem like a strong move forward for the United States’ higher education system in terms of inclusion of international persons, which it is, but when those numbers are compared to total U.S. higher education numbers they seem miniscule at less than 4%. Even so, within this group of students the largest single grouping in terms of field is that of STEM. This field is followed in popularity by Management and Business, illustrating the slow but imminent move towards fields with a greater emphasis on the economy. However, with 41% of students majoring in STEM fields it is a likely result that much of the funding for foreign nationals would be aimed at this particularly fruitful set of majors with its long-term economic viability in terms of
  • 9.   Porter  9   large-scale competition on the global market, especially considering the growth of demand for many STEM graduates with special regard to engineers and computer scientists. The IIE further made the case that many of the trends in growth for these STEM fields and international enrollment on the whole will continue into the next year.   From the viewpoint of Export-Import Bank President and Chair Fred Hochberg, “brain drain” is a necessary component of an effective, developed economy. He further noted that with his position at the Ex-Im Bank one of the ideas they worked towards is that “We’d like to import entrepreneurs and then export their products”(Hochberg, The Atlantic, March 2012) in essence creating a situation beneficial to the U.S. as a host country. At the Atlantic’s Economic Summit in March 2012, he made the point of explaining how, as a result of the archaic immigration policies in place, there is a slowing of interest of foreign nationals in the opportunities possible in Western nations, the U.S. notably, when those possibilities are weighed against the difficulties of migration, and possible immigration, to those nations. With this in mind Hochberg suggested that it would be economically advantageous for the U.S. to relax some restrictions immigration policies have on these desirable foreign nationals. From his perspective on this matter Hochberg seems to be aiming to persuade his audience that despite the short-term pain of an increased foreign national population and the work it would take in Congress to pass necessary reform in this area, the long-term benefits would far outweigh any of these difficulties for the U.S.   Watching the noted author and theoretical physicist Michio Kaku describe his knowledge on the subject of “brain drain” allowed for essentially a ground floor look at some of the reasons for it and the long-term consequences if things continue as they are. The co-
  • 10.   Porter  10   founder of string theory had this to say about the subject “50% of all Ph.D physicist students in graduate school are foreign-born. At State University in New York it is 100% foreign-born. What we are witnessing is a hemorrhaging of our scientific elite, compensated for by foreigners who then populate our Ph.D. institutions. Now, however, China is saying ‘Come on back. We’ll give you a laboratory. We’ll give you anything you want.’” (Kaku, BookTV, 3 Oct. 2010) In this way Kaku is making the point that as less and less resources are put into STEM fields in the United States, other developed and developing countries, India and China included, are taking it upon themselves to drain some of the human capital back and create more opportunities for their respective countries. He goes on to explain that the retention of these individuals is becoming part of the equation as well; when looking at the fact that much of the funding for projects and programs in the United States has become stagnant, not growing, and with that retention of individuals is a problem because the other countries vying for these persons have more to offer and per person than the United States. All of this taken into account, Kaku makes the case that there is a slowing of the “brain drain” which he feels could erode the scientific base in the United States and, eventually, the economy.   As an immediate representation of the efforts Kaku suggested and some of the consequences he predicted, the National Journal released an article on 28 November 2012 following the progress and difficulty of passing a newly revised STEM immigration bill through the House of Representatives. In her article “House Poised to Pass STEM Immigration Bill”, Juliana Gruenwald follows the context of and details surrounding Lamar Smith’s, R-Texas, newly drafted version of this bill. As it stands the proposed bill would “allow more foreign students who graduated from U.S. schools with advanced
  • 11.   Porter  11   technical degrees to stay in the country” (Gruenwald, National Journal), effectively attempting to resolve some of the problems the U.S. has had with retention in this area as the global competition to acquire this human capital increases. Gruenwald makes the assertion that during this lame-duck period in Congress, this bill will pass through the House with a majority vote if the closeness of the failed two-thirds vote on this issue earlier has any influence on the impending debates and vote on this issue. Portions of this particular policy are very much striking, including the fact that this bill would make efforts to make it easier for immediate family members of STEM green card holders to stay in the U.S. I find this an especially effective means of retention as many of the graduated STEM field students have spouses and children that would otherwise be onset with the difficulties of the existing immigration policies. In this way, retaining a family as a whole would likely be more effective than simply allowing the STEM field student to stay in a foreign country alone. A further significant portion of this bill is the fact that it allows for the rolling over of unused STEM green cards in the fiscal years of 2013-2016. With this addendum, it seems as though the bill is attempting not to waste any single resource in terms of gaining professionals in the STEM field. If there is a decline in one of the years included, the excess can simply be transferred to a pool for the possible influx the next year; effectively, the idea of “waste not, want not” applied to foreign intellectuals. In addition to these components of this bill is the elimination of the Diversity Visa program that uses a lottery on 55,000 green cards to people from countries with low immigration rates to the U.S. (Gruenwald, National Journal). This has been a point of contention between the Democrats and Republicans, as the Democrats are proposing wide-spanning immigration reform involving the Diversity Visa program
  • 12.   Porter  12   whereas the Republicans see this particular policy as ineffective in this day and age. The irony of this all is that “Both Democrats and Republicans support the goal of allowing more skilled foreign students who graduate with advanced STEM degrees to remain in the country” (Gruenwald, National Journal). The common ground shared by these groups, the problem is how and to what degree either group plans on implementing their strategy. This is an especially difficult process in this case seeing as Republicans control the House and the Democrat-controlled Senate is unlikely to pass this bill. On a wider scale, the White House and other Democratic leadership has spoken out on the perceived short- sighted and limited scope of the proposed bill that “ ‘allocate immigrant visas for advanced graduates of a limited set of STEM degree programs’ “(Gruenwald, National Journal)   In the situation presented, the STEM immigration bill aptly represents some of the ideas presented earlier about the consequences and turns of policy and ideology when it came to “brain drain” in the United States. As seen overall, neither political party wants to move away from accommodating foreign nationals into the American society and economy, the difference is the blunt way the Republicans posed their policy in trying to retain as many STEM students from around the world as possible while the Democrats are attempting to create an overall change in policy to spur growth in multiple sectors without any more special regard to those persons in STEM fields. Both sides of the aisle in the United States have recognized the necessity of retaining these STEM persons who have been brought in for particular projects and who have already had expansive experience with the subject as a result of American schooling, otherwise it would be simply a waste of resources to bring these persons and their families in to have them
  • 13.   Porter  13   move back to their countries of origin to do similar work after receiving so much U.S. training.   India has for the longest time been the rule when it came to both foreign students in STEM fields and foreign students in general in higher education in the United States. As noted by the IIE, until recently India has been the country with the largest number of students studying abroad in the United States, undergraduate or otherwise. As of late India has become the second leading place of origin for students coming to the U.S., with the interesting addition that more than half of students coming are doing so as graduate students in some of these more technical, STEM fields. The distribution of Indian students in American institutions of higher educational spreads in a way worth noting when it is seen that over a third, 36.7%, of students are in engineering fields, 21.7% in math/computer fields, 14% in business/management, and 11.4% in physical/life sciences. From this data it can taken that the Indian foreign nationals enrolled in American higher education institutions are exceedingly important both for their sheer size and presence in these institutions, in addition to their overall focus towards fields which are becoming more and more important on a world stage all of this is in terms of STEM fields, their expansion and usefulness, and the way in which the United States holds itself in regard to economic and technological advancement.
  • 14.   Porter  14     In recent years, however, India has fallen behind China in the number of students sent to these American institutions for a combination of reasons. First, it is necessary to look at the exponential growth of the number of Chinese people being sent to these places of higher education as the number of Indians is large, but has tapered off within the last few years. The sheer proportions of China over the last decade in terms of population and expansion rate therein may have served as a factor in the exponential growth within the last 5 years. From this idea it is a simple jump to the fact that China has become an economic powerhouse and is massaging some STEM fields while into the fields of business/management. This is simply an aside to describe a more global shift and how some countries are allocating resources based on world markets, with some focusing more on the technical and others focusing more on the economic.   Overall India has over the last half-century been amongst the most adamant countries in sending students to the United States. In fact, from Wasem’s work with the Congressional Research Service it was found that “India was the top sending country for STEM graduates enrolled in masters’ degree programs and represented 56% of all STEM
  • 15.   Porter  15   students seeking masters’ degrees in 2009.”(Wasem, 2012, pg 5) Examining this statement, it is simple to see how this particular set of people in this rapidly growing field could have such a great impact, negative or positive. In more recent times the numbers have only changed slightly but have, as trends have shown, begun to show signs of stagnation. From the Institution of International Education’s research this year I found that as of late the trends in Indian student enrollment increased from the fiscal year 2000/2001-2008/2009 when the numbers stabilized and ever since that the rate of growth has slowed, even declining a bit. The chart, as seen above, does seem to make the allusion that these numbers of students of Indian origin will hold stable, possibly only declining slightly more in the upcoming fiscal years. This decline may have been an effect of the immigration policy of the United States that has created a situation in which it is especially difficult for foreign nationals to stay and work within the host country after graduation, thus reducing interest, at least on a small scale, to make the effort to study in the U.S. at all because of the lack of post-graduate opportunities. Another likely possibility, supported in some ways by Mountford’s work, is the fact that things are improving in terms of education in the country of origin as a result of the investment of Indian citizens into education and training after observing the possibility of moving toward higher wages and subsequently not emigrating to the U.S. for one reason or another. According to India’s Department of Higher Education, there has been an expansion of the number of university/university-level institutions by nearly 20 times over the last 60 years. With this in mind, it would seem more apt, because of the investment in human capital in India and in spite of some “brain drain” for India’s students to stay within their country and save both effort and funds by doing so. Some of
  • 16.   Porter  16   the assumptions made by Beine et al are demonstrated with the growth of the higher education institutions in India, when they make the point that education has been seen as a major determinant of long-term growth. I mean this statement in that with the increase in human capital as a result of possible opportunities abroad, those persons who did not partake in migration to Western States such as the U.S. made greater efforts within their own country and gained new opportunities therein. As Agarwal and Winkler noted, “The number of students attending U.S. colleges as a proportion of students attending colleges anywhere…has declined”(Agarwal and Winkler, 1985, pg 512) which I take to mean that opportunities to attend college in their home countries has improved. This notion is very much observable in the case of India with the increase in higher education institutions and the decline/stagnation of individuals from India attending higher education institutions in the United States.   It is an oddity however that these grand decisions are being made surrounding a relatively small population of people, but have an exceedingly large set of possible consequences. Wasem contends, “Some researchers warn of a ‘reverse brain drain’ because the United States does not allocate what they consider to be a sufficient number of visas for high- skilled immigrants to fuel the economy.”(Wasem, 2012, pg 2). In this way Wasem is strengthening the arguments made by Kaku and Hochberg regarding the deficiency of resources fueling highly skilled persons, especially those in fields that need both people and capital like STEM to keep programs viable for the future. India is, and has been, showing signs of this ‘reverse brain drain’ especially when looking at the 2009 decline and stagnation of students from that country to the U.S. Such declines combined with India’s increase in higher education institutions and the constantly expanding market for
  • 17.   Porter  17   STEM students and graduates are making the United States seem less attractive an option in terms of education and work, especially when thinking about the frustrating immigration policies.   Further, when looking more in depth into these consequences and phenomena on an economic level, the size of the policy decisions and shifts from country to country, the cost of the “brain drain” can be imagined with a better point of reference. Despite the amount of funds required to run many of these STEM programs, the U.S. Department of Commerce noted that “growth in STEM jobs was three times as fast as growth in non- STEM jobs over the past 10 years” (Wasem, 2012, pg 2) With this observation the idea of the importance that STEM investment is paramount in keeping up with not only technical advances, but also economic trends. And with the recent political shifts towards addressing some of the issues of STEM immigration, it can be seen that the U.S. government has finally come to understand magnitude of what the STEM field can provide to the state economically. Imbued with this knowledge it would seem like the recent and fervent work toward legislation to retain foreign STEM students and to expand the program to be more inclusive of foreign nationals in STEM fields is simply an effort to protect the economy from what could be a STEM-based recession. With the continued growth of the STEM field and its impact on the economy it seems almost comical that the growth of funding necessary to keep this field as advanced as it needs to be in order to compete on the world stage has come to a semi-vegetative state. And as the funding has stayed the same while demand has risen, there has been an aforementioned stagnation of these STEM students from one of the largest providers of these students in India.  
  • 18.   Porter  18   As shown, the negative effects of “brain drain” in the case of STEM fields is very much outweighed by the necessity of persons in those fields in cases of both the country of origin and the host country. From the host country’s perspective, there may be a growth in the population of students from India, and as a result there may be an increase in foreign nationals with visas as shown by the stay rates of doctorate recipients observed by Finn which included India as a country with above average stay rates compared with other countries (Finn, 2010, ii). Noting this fact but not taking it for a more than an observation of trends, the idea that unauthorized immigration increased as a result of increases in STEM students and graduates as part of “brain drain” seems a bit far-fetched. And from this the positive effects on the United States are quickly being realized as this new Technological Revolution is being fueled by the STEM students that the U.S. is teaching and training, but which are quickly returning to their countries of origin for less immigration difficulty and greater long-term opportunities than are offered in the United States. India has been noticed in this regard when looking at recent pushes in American politics to ameliorate the immigration problems for STEM students and re-gain a “brain drain” edge.            
  • 19.   Porter  19   Bibliography Wasem, Ruth Ellen, Immigration of Foreign Nationals with STEM Degrees. Congressional Research Service, 18 September 2012. Finn, Michael G., Stay Rates of Foreign Doctorate Recipients from U.S. Universities. Oak Ridge Institution for Science and Education. January 2012 Chiswick, Barry R., The Economics of Immigration: Selected Papers of Barry R. Chiswick. Policy Analysis of Foreign Student visas. Carrington, William J., and Detragiache, Enrica, How Extensive is the Brain Drain, Finance and Development, June 1999 Carrington, William J. and Detragiache, Enrica, How Big Is the Brain Drain? (July 1998). IMF Working Paper, Vol. , pp. 1-27, 1998. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=882624 Stark, Oded, Helmenstein, Christian, and Prskawetz, Alexia. A brain gain with a brain drain. Economic Letters, Volume 55, issue 2, 29 August 1997, pg 227-234. Mountford, Andrew, Can Brain drain be good for the growth of the source economy? Journal of Development Economics, Volume 53, issue 2, August 1997, pg 287-303. Beine, Michel, Docquier, Frederic, and Rapoport, Hillel. Brain drain and economic growth; theory and evidence. Journal of Development Economics, Volume 64, issue 1, February 2001, pg 275-289. Hochberg, Fred, The Atlantic’s Economy Summit, 14 Mar. 2012. The Atlantic. C-SPAN 3, http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/304905-11 “Michio Kaku.” In Depth. C-SPAN: BookTV. 3 Oct. 2010. http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/295788-1 Open Doors 2012: Report on International Educational Exchange, International Education Week, 13 Nov. 2012, Institute of International Education, Washington, D.C. Gruenwald, Juliana, House Poised to Pass STEM Immigration Bill, The National Journal, 28 November 2012. http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/house-poised-to-pass-stem-immigration- bill-20121128?mrefid=mostViewed