Fair Student Mobility

As I am based in Thailand promoting study and research in Germany, sometimes I am accused of promoting brain-drain. This is particularly painful in an ageing society like Thailand, where highly educated young people are precious members of tomorrow's society. Luckily I can plead innocent on that charge.

The biggest study destinations world-wide attract the brightest and wealthiest students. The universities will usually charge a substantial amount of money in tuition fees, and upon completion of studies, the graduates may actually stay in the host-country, apply their knowledge, pay taxes and possibly never return. Well, that's brain-drain.

If you look at the destinations world-wide for mobile students, you'll find Germany and France right after the USA, UK and Australia and in fact the numbers are rising.

About 360'000 or about 13% of students at German universities hold a foreign passport (some of them even did high-school in Germany, they're called "Bildungsinl?nder"). I am actually very happy to see such a diverse group of young people at university, and I feel like we're winning! So, is there anyone losing?

Brain Circulation

Luckily, France and Germany are playing a win-win game here. Firstly, both countries have systems of higher education that are mainly run and financed by the state, offering very favourable fees even for non-European students who follow an international programme. Secondly both France and Germany are not only promoting themselves as destinations for study and research, but they are also very actively supporting their students to go abroad. So in fact, it comes as a surprise to many that Germany with only 82 Million inhabitants is coming third in sending students abroad, right after China and India.

This is also reflected in the numbers of supported students and researchers. In 2017 the DAAD has funded 311 Thais to come to Germany and 305 Germans to go to Thailand. Hopefully people gather experience, learn something new, apply their knowledge and return after a while with new insight and a broadened horizon. That's a true win-win situation, what we consider brain-circulation at its best. And I am more than happy to be part of it.