Students Return As Greener Pastures Dry Up

foreign students return home

Times have changed. In the past there would be jobs for foreign students to take on. Not anymore. It is not easy to get a job in a foreign country, since the citizens of the country want the same jobs."

The above statement from a former student who studied in the UK best summarizes the high number of students who now return to the Third World countries after their studies abroad.

In the past, the majority of students from the developing countries who went to study overseas would always dream of a great world awaiting them either there or a great job on their return home.

But the reality is gradually kicking in, that the seemingly titanic world out there is just not as open and juicy as we thought.

The global economy's growth forecast for 2012 had come down to 3.25% from an earlier forecast of 4% and the UK's Office of National Statistics reports more than 2.6 million people unemployed and record numbers claiming unemployment benefit at 1.6 million.

The US, the world's biggest economy, is also experiencing severe unemployment, with now 13.1m people out of work despite a marginal 0.6% decline in the unemployment rate in the last half year. This is the same case with the European Union, where 9.8% of the labour force was unemployed as at November last year.

With unemployment eating into homes of the citizens in the countries we craze for our foreign studies, recent research has shown that the percentage of students from developing countries who study abroad are now returning home in droves.

According to a 2010 report by the International Organisation of Migration, about 70% of East Africans (Ugandans, Kenyans and Tanzanians) living in the United Kingdom, are willing to return home permanently.

The same study revealed that a good number of Ugandans, Kenyans and Tanzanians do not see Britain as an avenue for staying permanently, but an avenue they can always visit, after returning to their home countries.

The study was centred on the United Kingdom, because it is the leading destination for most East Africans on top of the US, Canada and Germany. Another study-Intent to migrate among nursing students in Uganda: Measures of the brain drain in the next generation of health professionals, shows that three of every four (76%) health workers want to return after working abroad.

The study was done in Uganda by Lisa Nguyen and other five local and foreign researchers. Over the last half century, studies show that Africans have left the continent for a myriad of reasons, including further education, better working conditions and better social security elsewhere. It is estimated that over 200 million Africans work in the Diaspora.

In 2009, the number of international students worldwide had risen to 3.7 million up from just 0.8 million in 1975. This number is projected to hit 8 million by 2020 according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics. But much as so many are leaving the country, studies show that a good number of them are returning.

Reasons for returning:

Besides the grim economic situation in the host countries, studies have shown that there are several pull factors, which are prompting students to return, including opportunities for further training and career advancement, greater financial rewards and improved working conditions, availability of posts, job security and job satisfaction. In addition, factors such as loyalty to country, sense of pride and avoiding depression.

Prof. Fredrick Jjuuko says going abroad for graduate or undergraduate studies does not also necessarily make one more competitive on return. "They may have gone abroad after failing to get placement here," he says. But also, adds the law don, relevance of what people go abroad to study needs to be put into consideration. "For those that go abroad to study courses that are not relevant to our needs here, finding employment may be hard," he says.

Another don, Elly Sabiiti, a retired professor of grassland science and a University of Oxford graduate, says the challenge truly lies in many students going abroad to study irrelevant courses.

A case in point-Most African Diasporan Masters in Business Administration students from leading Western business schools are confident of Africa's potential and want to come back home. Of these, 70% will work in Africa after graduation, according to a new survey by Jacana Partners, the pan-African private equity firm that invests in SMEs to deliver social and financial returns.

Other Studies by Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education show that, "far more African doctoral students return home" On average, the study notes that 78% leave Norway after completing their degrees, back to their home countries. The same study shows that most African PhD students in Norway come from Ethiopia, Tanzania and Uganda.

Much as there are provisional residence permits in countries like Switzerland, Canada and Germany and United Kingdom, studies show that almost 60% of the students who go to these countries later leave after their studies.

In Germany, "almost all undergraduate students return to East Africa on completion of their courses," according to Böhm Thomas, the head of section, Africa/Middle East at Germany's International Development.