Abstract
This article examines PhD students’ migration plans and strategies, their development over time, and the circumstances of their potential or real return within the changing life course context. The research is based on a longitudinal qualitative study conducted over six years (2012–17) among 21 international PhD students coming from developing countries, studying in the Netherlands. Results are discussed in the context of a cultural shift and the migration–development nexus. We argue that: (1) strong feelings of responsibility towards both their family and the development of their country of origin are leading factors shaping their migration strategies; (2) specialisation of their research project and its applicability in the home country also importantly influences their return potential; and (3) an apparent moral responsibility towards the home society and a willingness to help countries of migratory origin was growing stronger over the observation time (in harmony with post-materialist values the informants gained when studying in the Netherlands) along the progressing life course, which creates a broad potential for brain gain.
Key messages
International PhD students from developing countries carry potential for brain gain.
Specialisation of the PhD research topic influences their return migration strategies.
Willingness to help home countries was growing stronger over the longitudinal observation of the life course.
Introduction
The phenomenon of international student mobility is growing considerably in the 21st century and holds a strong position within the field of skilled migration. Student mobility represents one type of a new form of migration derived from time-space flexibility, globalisation processes and personal self-realisation. International mobility of PhD students is viewed as a fundamental step during doctoral studies, both for its impact on the quality of the doctoral project and for the creation of transnational research networks as a long-term investment in an academic career (Musselin, 2004; Kim, 2009, 2017; Tocchioni and Petrucci, 2020) as academic mobility is equated with notions of excellence or quality (Ackers, 2008). Obviously, due to its intensity and, indeed, the economic importance of where these students or highly educated individuals will finally settle and contribute to the economy, it is important to the migration–development nexus (for example, Docquier and Rapoport, 2012). Moreover, global migration of the highly educated is encouraged by diverging demographic trends between developed and developing nations. The global context of the developing nations used in this study corresponds with the high relevancy of return migration of highly skilled individuals within the brain drain, brain gain and brain exchange concepts (Rizvi, 2005; Mayr and Peri, 2008). Academic mobility is believed to bring sustainable development to the global knowledge economy.
Current international migration patterns differ from previous times. Accordingly, research approaches tackling migration issues have also changed (Castles, 2014). Modernisation theories reflect the growing importance of the non-economic aspects of migration and mirror both a massive cultural change and the persistence of distinctive cultural traditions that can be found globally (Inglehart and Baker, 2000). The cultural shift reflects, inter alia, a new orientation towards a different epistemology. It takes much more into account culture and the role of consciousness and the importance of individual agency in human behaviour, of course, not excluding migration (Fielding, 1992). It also brings about theoretical and methodological changes and innovations when micro-level ethnographic studies, based on various qualitative approaches, are used more than before (see King, 2012). Last but not least, there is a new research agenda concerning (non-financial) social remittances through which novelties come from migrants back to countries of migration origin and where newly gained values and individual’s abilities and skills matter very much (for example, Drbohlav and Dzúrová, 2020). ‘Social remittances are the ideas, behaviors, identities, and social capital that flow from receiving- to sending-country communities’ (Levitt, 1998: 927).
The majority of research on international migration is done as a snapshot, thereby limiting the possibility of exploring development in migration patterns over time along with changes in life situations. To overcome such a limitation, this study has applied a longitudinal approach in line with recommendations in the literature on highly skilled migration (Konzett-Smoliner, 2016). Research on middling transnationals advocates the trajectory perspective as a continuum between the emigration and immigration contexts. Literature has shown that migration strategies can gradually develop and change in the case of highly skilled Singaporean transmigrants (Ho, 2011).
The aim of this article is to examine several PhD students’ migration plans and strategies, their development over time, and the circumstances of their potential or real return within the changing life course concept and modernisation theory. This research draws on a longitudinal small-scale qualitative study conducted over a range of six years among 21 international PhD students coming from different developing countries, studying in the Netherlands, in the context of cultural shift and the migration–development nexus. Wageningen University in the Netherlands (WU), which has deep international roots, cultivates cultural diversity and offers programmes on global issues of increasing importance, was chosen as the site for this research. Internationalisation is a key essence of the chosen university environment. WU offers a top academic reputation, high-quality education with the majority of lectures being taught in English, and has a very high ranking among global universities. WU is listed number 59 in the world ranking (THE, 2019) with 27% of international students involved and it scores the highest in the life sciences as it is the world’s best in the field of agriculture (QS Quacquarelli Symonds, 2020), which makes it extremely attractive for students from the whole world.
International student migration
Student migrants form a specific mobile group within the brain exchange concept, as they develop their skills and knowledge abroad and they can bring development to their countries of origin. Given the terms used in this paper, a highly skilled migrant is generally defined as one with a tertiary education or equivalent experience in specialised work (Iredale, 1999). Boundaries between student migrants and other skilled migrants are blurring, as the students increasingly hold multiple identities as family members and workers – and due to integration into the host society (Raghuram, 2013). International students are officially seen as temporary migrants, but many eventually become permanent immigrants (Hazen and Alberts, 2006). This is in line with emerging literature on changing conceptions of rights and citizenship, which also deals with the consequences of the education–migration nexus (Robertson, 2011). Another study on highly skilled immigrants analyses strategies of adaptation as a response to facing employment insecurity and settlement uncertainty (Zhan and Zhou, 2020). When analysing student migration and mobility, different hierarchical perspectives may be taken into account and analysed (Cantwell, 2011). Dealing with diverse power relations, institutions and states compete for academic migrants in the global higher education market (Shachar, 2006; Boeri et al, 2012). The state is trying to control and direct international student flows, and educational institutions are using their power to attract and retain as many international students as possible. Additionally, students themselves, along with their families, rely on the power of resources necessary for supporting their mobility. The need to examine the power that enables or disables transnational mobility was stressed, for example, by Massey (1993). The role that international students play in a wider family project of cultural capital accumulation has been studied in the case of the East Asian diaspora (Waters, 2005, 2006). Also, research into immigration policies in Europe suggests that highly skilled migration is driven not only by labour-market dynamics, but also by government partisanship (Kolbe, 2021).
The intersections between international student mobility, recruitment methods of student migration industries and visa regulations have been analysed lately in the European context (Beech, 2018) as well as in the case of return migrants in India (Jacobs, 2020). The strong importance of the international migration of highly educated individuals within the context of differently developed countries and the threat of brain drain has been addressed in the literature on skilled migration, highlighting the benefits of the skilled return migration for developing countries (Findlay and Lowell, 2016). In other sources dealing with the new economics of the brain drain, the losses and gains for the developing countries caused by migration of educated workers is weighed carefully (Stark and Fan, 2007).
Potential return of highly educated
The migration decisions of international students are made within a broad context of personal, professional, socio-cultural, economic and institutional influences. These influences vary by different characteristics, such as nationality, field of study or gender. Existing research suggests that highly educated people are more likely to move over longer distances and more often (Whisler et al, 2008). Specifically, students who have spent part of their studies abroad are more likely to have migrated after graduation (King and Ruiz‐Gelices, 2003). Migration also depends on family status and composition; married people and people with larger families are less likely to move (Boyle et al, 2008; Kulu, 2008) and linked family lives can often constrain mobility and migration (Thomas et al, 2017).
Existing literature has approached return migration predominantly as the individual project of an isolated migrant, neglecting the role of the family members of re-migrants. Conversely, the new economics of migration conceptualises migration decisions as being made together with the whole family, based mostly on economic factors (Massey et al, 1998). Research on highly skilled Austrian returnees (Konzett-Smoliner, 2016) also addressed this gap by describing how children or domestic partners may change the migration decision of the returnee. Lepore (1986) has identified the following variable intervening factors that influence successful reintegration: emotional or family ties, age of children, the period of residence in a foreign country and economic aspirations. Several key factors have been defined as determining the destination country of international students after completing their studies, such as family support and ties, work experience, discipline of study or work environment, and opportunities to use acquired skills in the home country (Soon, 2012). In general, economic and professional factors are incentives for staying abroad, while personal and societal factors draw them home (Hazen and Alberts, 2006). However, the drivers of highly skilled migration reach beyond the economic factors, also in the case of less-developed regions (Crescenzi et al, 2017). Specifically, high quality of life and social welfare benefits were shown as the strongest return motives in the case of developed home country migrants (Konzett-Smoliner, 2016). Several studies on the return motives of highly skilled migrants (Djajić, 2008; Hugo, 2009) also consistently show the strong influence of family and lifestyle considerations on remigration. The mobility and migration of students in the modern space, however, is extremely difficult to predict or control (Cresswell, 2006). Literature on lifetime mobility plans of international students also stresses out the fluidity of life plans, where familial and social institutions – both abroad and in the place of origin – influence and complicate the development of students’ migration plans and where return may even be seen as failure (Findlay et al, 2017).
Life course and student migration
Numerous studies have stressed the importance of life course as a contextual and biographical approach within the migration process. Generally, the life course concept emphasises the role of events on trajectories across the lifespan, such as entering and leaving an educational institution, acquiring a job, getting married or divorced, having children or retiring (Alwin, 2013; Vlase and Voicu, 2018). These transitions through social structures and institutions are embedded in relationships that can both support and constrain individual behaviour. As described in the longitudinal studies of child development, an individual’s developmental trajectory and life course are interconnected with the development and lives of others (Elder, 1998). Life course research also offers a useful research methodology to investigate changing subjective conditions in the international migration context. Any transitions in life course bring changes which increase the likelihood of considering migration (Kley, 2011). When studying factors in the propensity to migrate, extended family orientations should be analysed along with other aspirations (Miller, 1976). Life course transitions for example have offered a perspective to study return migration with reference to family, child-rearing or relationship breakdown (Lindstrom and Giorguli-Saucedo, 2007; Ní Laoire, 2008). In the context of labour economics, return migration can be seen as an act of optimising lifecycle location. Life course mobility in different transition contexts was studied with regard to elderly migrants from Bangladesh in London (Gardner, 2002), where their life histories and narratives document how they face the processes of ageing, sickness and death in the transmigration context.
The conceptual framework of the life course within the migration field is further developed through cases of highly skilled migrants and specifically of mobile international students. This framework helps us understand how migration decisions are embedded in social time and space and how they develop throughout the life of an individual as his/her needs, priorities and obligations change along the life course. A life course approach to studying highly skilled migrants can bring visualisations of parallel careers and shows spousal influence (Kõu et al, 2015). It also shows the diverse relations of migration behaviour to education, employment and household. Kõu et al (2015) show how trajectories and careers depend on one another, and how they evolve simultaneously or parallel to each other. It has been demonstrated that diverse relationship considerations are shaping migration strategies at the transitional life-stage of graduating international students (Geddie, 2013). Studies of international students from Asian regions pointed out a specific motivation for selecting Russian universities, such as the desire of young male students to create a family with educated local female students (Platonova et al, 2017). This motivation reaches beyond the prevailing career aspirations among international Asian students and is strongly linked to the life course situation of mobile individuals. The strong impact of biographical status passages, such as the transition from university to work life, on mobility decisions was shown in the case of international students in Germany (Glorius, 2016). Their migratory decisions embedded in transnational action space are negotiated on the basis of rational arguments, as well as subjectivities, and the influence of family members. Also, Findlay et al (2012) argue that the subsequent mobility intentions of international students should be viewed in the wider context of life course aspirations. Life course is also stressed as an important viewpoint in the literature on return migration of Chinese highly skilled workers and students in Japan. Achenbach (2016) develops a model of individual return migration decision-making that integrates factors of diverse spheres of career, lifestyle preferences and family. Her study analyses long-term decision-making processes as the priorities of migrants shift over the course of migration. A specific gender view shows how highly skilled Chinese women in corporate Japan develop strategies for work–family balance including leaving Japan to join the Chinese labour market, family separation and delayed marriage or childbirth (Achenbach, 2014).
Moreover, Ackers (2004) argues for different leading factors influencing the mobility of scientists in the different stages of their life course, as family considerations tend to be more applicable for migrants with a partner or child, whereas economic factors are more relevant for young and single migrants. These findings were also supported by the literature on the predictability of return migration of highly educated migrants (Rakovcová, 2017), where the influence of life course and family concerns was specifically described. The migration decisions of international PhD students with children were found to be strongly driven by responsibility towards their families and institutions, unlike single and childless students who cited professional opportunities and individual freedom as essential migration driving forces (Rakovcová, 2017). There are other diverse influencing factors driving migration decisions that are not necessarily closely linked to life course events, such as social inequalities, degree of gender equality, economic development, value systems and cultural norms (Bernard et al, 2014). However, these contextual factors also influence the life course indirectly.
A majority of the previous research linking highly skilled migration and life course has focused on more developed Western countries and was limited to the role of core family members. Therefore, this article addresses this gap by extending the family concerns not only to the children or partner, but also to the parents of migrants. Moreover, this study examined migrants from less-developed countries and considers the differences in opportunities and constraints influencing their migration paths. Given the hierarchical level of analyses, our research predominantly uses the personal perspective of individual migrants’ experiences to reveal the true heterogeneity of the phenomenon studied. More specifically, the focus of this article on possible return migration corresponds with the high relevancy of brain exchange and brain gain topics within the contemporary globalised world. The potential return of highly educated migrants to their less-developed countries of origin is extremely important for the development of their home countries, which are experiencing the threat of brain drain.
Data and methods
This paper draws on: qualitative techniques, including in-depth semi-structured interviews (for example, Flick, 2014) with 21 international PhD students aged between 26 and 46, coming from developing countries, studying in the Netherlands at Wageningen University (WU); research on the university’s website profiles and personal LinkedIn portfolios; and analysis following email correspondence and further interviews with key informants. The research participants have reflected on their personal histories, biographies, motivations and changes in their life situation in relation to their migration plans and strategies. In-depth interviews were used as a major research instrument to uncover the diversity of the studied phenomenon. Detailed qualitative methodological framing was provided by Gubrium and Holstein (2002).
This research follows the life story or biographical tradition (Plummer, 2001), which was applied in studies on brain circulation (Saxenian, 2006) and academic mobility (Hoffman, 2009). The life story approach was used to consider the complexity of migration decisions in a broader context, in line with methodological recommendations of international student literature (Dunlop, 1966; McNamara and Harris, 1997).
Longitudinal research has been used in diverse scientific disciplines (Hanappi et al, 2014) and the longitudinal approach was suggested as a useful research tool in the return migration literature (Pocock and McIntosh, 2011; Konzett-Smoliner, 2016). The strengths and weaknesses of using longitudinal data were analysed (Cumming and Goldstein, 2016; Mikolai and Lyons-Amos, 2017) and specific methodological challenges of retaining participants in a longitudinal study were described by Adamson and Chojenta (2007). This has been borne out by our own experience of working with the longitudinal method, as, indeed, retaining the research participants was the biggest methodological challenge when conducting this research. It was difficult to retain motivation and a personal bond with the participants over the years as the contact shifted from face-to-face interviews to distant email communication. Many participants changed institutions and email addresses, some of them changed names through marriage and it became difficult to track their trajectory, some got too overwhelmed by their jobs or lost interest in our research over the time. Despite this considerable loss, we believe that the value of the unique data gathered in sequence on an individual level ultimately outweighs the disadvantages of the method used.
In line with the longitudinal approach of the study, the informants were contacted through email correspondence two years (2014) and six years (2017) after the initial interviews in 2012 in order to analyse the changes in their migration behaviour. The research participants were initially contacted via email (the addresses were chosen from various WU departmental websites). Some 84 students from 14 departments were contacted, out of which 25% agreed to meet and share their life stories in interviews (see more in Table 1). At the time of our initial interviews, the participants were at different stages of their PhD programmes ranging from one to four years; however, these differences did not seem to affect the data collected. Time was invested in ensuring the participants that their time and contribution is valued and worthwhile, as well as developing and maintaining relationships with them, as advised by Adamson and Chojenta (2007), to maintain response chances in a longitudinal project. The positionality of the researcher has also influenced the research process. The researcher was herself in the position of an international PhD student while doing the interviews, which offered the opportunity to get to know the environment of WU and the research participants closely through a shared experience. After two and six years, in the second and third phase of the longitudinal research, participants were located and contacted through their personal or professional emails, university websites or various research institutes. They were asked, in email correspondence, to reflect on their new life situation in relation to return migration – including follow-up questions generated on the base of data gathered through the initial interview. Our retention rate decreased gradually as is typical in longitudinal research, with 76% of the participants being retained in the second phase and 57% retained in the third phase of the research.
Informant’s details at the time of the initial interview (2012)
| ID No. | Country of origin | Gender | Age | Field of study | Years in NL | Funding of study | Marital status* | No. of children |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iran | F | not revealed | Earth System Sciences | 1 | Wageningen University | Single | 0 |
| 2 | Tanzania | F | 42 | Cultural Geography | 1 | Dutch government | Married | 3 |
| 3 | Kenya | F | 44 | Cultural Geography | 1 | Dutch government | Married | 2 |
| 4 | Kenya | F | 34 | Cultural Geography | 2 | Dutch government | Single | 1 |
| 5 | Thailand | M | 34 | Cultural Geography | 3 | Thai government | Single | 0 |
| 6 | Mongolia | M | 36 | Agricultural Economics | 4 | EU – Erasmus Mundus | Married | 3 |
| 7 | China | F | 26 | Management Sciences | 2 | Dutch government | Single | 0 |
| 8 | Turkey | M | 28 | Logistics Management | 1 | Dutch government | Married | 1 |
| 9 | Costa Rica | F | not revealed | Environmental Economics | 4 | Dutch government | Single | 0 |
| 10 | Chile | M | 31 | Applied Philosophy | 3 | Dutch government | Single | 0 |
| 11 | Malaysia | M | 30 | Cultural Geography | 2 | Malaysian government | Single | 1 |
| 12 | Vietnam | M | 35 | Natural Resources | 1 | EU – Erasmus Mundus | Married | 2 |
| 13 | Vietnam | M | 35 | Environmental Economics | 1 | EU – Erasmus Mundus | Divorced | 2 |
| 14 | Mexico | F | not revealed | Development Economics | 5 | Mexican government | Married | 2 |
| 15 | Mexico | M | 34 | Sociology of Development | 8 | Mexican government | Single | 0 |
| 16 | Malaysia | M | 46 | Environmental Policy | 4 | Malaysian government | Married | 2 |
| 17 | India | F | 30 | Consumer Behaviour | 4 | Dutch government | Married | 0 |
| 18 | Ethiopia | M | 35 | Competence Studies | 1 | Dutch government | Married | 2 |
| 19 | Benin | M | 32 | Marketing | 2 | Dutch government | Married | 1 |
| 20 | Mexico | F | 29 | Rural Sociology | 1 | EU – Marie Curie Scholarship | Single | 0 |
| 21 | Kyrgyzstan | F | 32 | Sociology of Consumption | 1 | EU – Erasmus Mundus | Single | 0 |
Note:
* Category single includes those in unmarried partnerships.
With the permission of the interviewees, the interviews were recorded, given anonymous numbers to protect their identity, and transcribed for later analyses. ATLAS.ti software was used for data analysis, transcription, coding and interpretation. Citing the direct speech of the interviewed students for analyses in the result section is in line with the approach of other studies in the field (Hazen and Alberts, 2006; Geddie, 2013). Research participants representing diverse social, scientific and environmental fields with a split between genders (10 women, 11 men) were chosen to characterise the heterogeneity of highly educated international migration (see Table 1).
Major global developing regions are represented by 16 countries of origin in the interviewee sample. The developing status of the countries included was in line with the United Nations classification (United Nations, 2014). The choice of a heterogeneous group of research participants reflects the intention to investigate the studied phenomenon in its diversity and complexity.
Results
The migration intentions described by our informants, repeatedly over several years of observation, have provided the core material for analyses. Through progression in their education, they receive an international PhD degree and obtain an added value in the global career market – especially in academia. The location decisions, which they must ultimately make during and after their PhD studies, were regarded as being difficult and of great importance by the research participants. PhD students in the Netherlands hold a unique status, as they are treated as temporary university staff with a financial support from scholarship which our research participants regarded to as being sufficient to cover their economic needs during their studies. The hosting society in the Netherlands was perceived as welcoming and friendly to foreigners by all the research participants. In particular, the specific multicultural environment and the top-quality research facilities combined with the reliable and functional supporting structures of WU were described as offering a perfect place to grow personally and professionally. Their international PhD experience also enabled them to grow morally, as they gradually enter a new stage of life, where a more philanthropic viewpoint is more prominent in deliberating the potential return issue. The majority of the research participants felt that they would be treated respectfully also in the case of potential future employment in the Netherlands (as they saw some job opportunities available there). We encountered our informants in a crucial period of their lives, when their academic and professional lives interacted turbulently. Transition in their life course along the biographical status passage from university student to work life includes the consideration of potential return migration expressed by all our informants. Decisions on the possibility of returning to their home countries or choosing a different location are compared and weighed carefully over a long period of time, taking into account, among other factors, broad family influences and development consequences in their home societies.
The principle of development responsibility within the migration decision process of PhD students who stayed in academia was similar to that in the case of the minority of those who left the academic environment. This second group could be considered as a substantial loss for the academic potential of the developing country; however, in reality they had to find a matching job in a non-academic organisation due to a temporary lack of a position at a university and were still willing to enter the academic sphere later when a new opportunity occurred. Interestingly, during the initial interview, research participants in both academic and non-academic employment did not express any fear of limited job opportunities (which can be rather scarce and precarious in nature in the academic field) as being a leading factor forcing them to make their migration decisions.
In the remainder of this paper, development and potential changes of migration strategy over the observation time are analysed with relation to potential return. First, we analyse the role of diverse responsibilities and family concerns. Second, we specifically describe the role of the research specialisation and the weighing up of their contribution to home-country development – before an assumption about the postmodern character of migration decisions of the highly educated is made.
Responsibilities and family concerns
First, we analyse the role of diverse responsibilities and family concerns, which a majority of the international PhD students interviewed stressed as the most important influencing factor. An underdeveloped system of care for their ageing parents is a challenge in the developing countries of their origin. However carefree the situation of these potential global nomads might appear, there are obvious bonds and ties complicating the decision-making process in their linked lives. They increasingly hold multiple identities, those of students, academic workers and family members (including diverse roles of daughters, sons, spouses, wives, husbands or parents), and their migration strategy becomes more complex with the need to balance the growing number of influencing aspects. Return migration intentions are influenced by various internal and external motivation factors. The external motivations, which were often regarded as diverse responsibilities, play a strong role in the decision-making process. The students mentioned responsibilities on different scales: towards their countries of origin and their societies, scholarship providers, research institutions, previous employers, colleagues, and very strongly to their friends and families. Family is understood in its broad sense, including several generations, by most of the research participants.
The PhD programmes of our research participants often involved travelling back and forth to collect research data in the case when their field of study was located in their home countries’ regions. This form of circulation created a specific condition of being exposed to both environments simultaneously and offered opportunities for more frequent meetings in person with family members and friends in their country of origin. These conditions can reinforce the bond to the home country and home society. Spending some limited personal close time with their family members during their visits home was described as precious by our research participants, as the long distances separating them most of the time limited their contacts to virtual online experience.
‘There are some changes in my life now, I have a Swiss boyfriend for one and a half years. I am not sure what to do, if to return or to stay here. For now, I like to spend holidays at home, but I would like to live in Europe for some more time. Maybe once I will get married and have kids, I might settle in Costa Rica. But who knows? I love to travel and maybe I will end up in a circle possibly migrating again and again.’ (Informant 9, phase 1)
‘I live still in the Netherlands, finishing my PhD. At this moment I do not have any concrete plans concerning my future migration, but I feel that doors are opened for me if I go back to my home country. I communicate with my family three times a week approximately; with my friends I keep in touch via SMS or social networks on a weekly basis. I want to settle in Costa Rica, marry and have kids once. My family is there and once I start a family, I would like to have my relatives closer then and have a frequent contact with them.’ (Informant 9, phase 2)
‘I am living in San José, Costa Rica now. I am still single; I have no partner and no kids. I am currently living with my parents. I came back to my home country already 1.5 years back because I wanted to try finding a job here, but the strongest factor was being close to my family. It would be difficult to be far away from my parents now as they are not getting any younger and it is important to me to be close to them at this time of their life and mine. And a great advantage is that now that I am here, I see my brothers and nephews almost every weekend. Luckily, I found a job that I like, and I am establishing networks with people working on my field here. I plan to stay here for now, indefinitely.’ (Informant 9, phase 3)
The strongest motivation to return was not necessarily having children immediately, but rather using the time after finishing her PhD with her own parents while they are still active and fit. The aspect of slowly ageing parents becomes stronger over the time observed and is clearly expressed compared to previous interviews where it was not mentioned at all. Even though other aspects of life back home, such as professional satisfaction, are also mentioned, the importance of family ties as a leading force in migration decisions is prevalent. As their life courses progressed, our research participants face newly emerging issues related to the potential sickness or death of elderly family members. The potential of living location-independently as a global nomad becomes weaker over the observation time and strong ties to ageing parents make a lifestyle of detachment from particular geographical locations less probable. This provides an example of how links between related individuals can constrain spatial mobility, as has previously been researched in the case of linked lives of other general types of migrants (Thomas et al, 2017), here also in the case of the highly educated.
‘I live happily in Den Haag and work in Haarlem, NL. After finishing my PhD, I was opened to any possibilities regarding work. I was offered a job in the Netherlands, so I stayed here. My partner is Dutch, so this is an incentive to live in the Netherlands. I have been living with my partner for the past 14 years. Going back to Mexico would be completely possible, there are no constraints, there are positions available in my field of specialisation, mostly in the academic sector. But I have given priority to my personal life in NL. I do not have a plan to move in the near future. My family is definitely influencing my migration decisions. We are not married, but we decide as a family what is the best for us. My partner’s job is in NL, which also plays an important role to keep us in NL.’ (Informant 15, phase 3)
Having a local partner seems to have a stabilising effect on the migration plans of international PhD students where the return becomes postponed and potentially less probable. The migration strategy becomes less individualised as the double career decision is necessarily drawn into the plan, especially if the partnership is long-lasting, as in the case of this Mexican student. Informants in personal relationships often have to consider dual careers and choose the future residence location with relation to the specialisation of both partners. Spousal influence on migration decisions increases in serious long-term relationships over the observation time as the settlement decision is made together.
With regard to key life course situations, family formation and retirement appeared to be important potential turning points in the lives of all of research participants. Concerns about school-aged children are considered carefully as decisions about raising children either in the traditional values of the home societies or within an international setting must be made. Starting their own family or caring for ageing parents, who need more personal support, brings thoughts of responsibility and is likely to influence current or future migration trajectories. These trajectories can be postponed, however, and might result in different directions – not necessarily leading to return migration – depending on the specific situation of the individual.
As the social system of care is not fully developed or is non-existent in the home countries of our research participants they are often expected to return to take care of their elderly parents. Social norms and cultural habits make a no-return migration decision more complicated, especially for single sons and daughters, where their physical presence, support, assistance and care is strongly desired, expected and required by their parents. Linked family lives often result in return migration and could represent an important component within systems of social care and support not only within the context of the rapid ageing in Western nations (Pavolini and Ranci, 2008; Ranci and Pavolini, 2015), but also in the context of the developing countries and the potential return of highly educated individuals, as our research suggests. However, international students are typically approached as rather subordinate children of the families, fulfilling the broad family clan wishes (Waters, 2005, 2006) which contrasts with our PhD research participants as they are not functioning as the family tool for earning cultural capital, but they act as self-confident, conscious entities who relate to their families from the developed position of a responsible care-taker.
Research specialisation and home country development
‘My specialisation is very relevant in my home country. I do my research on the water supply in Malaysia, so I can easily utilise my knowledge after return and bring at least small changes in the techniques of cleaning water.’ (Informant 16, phase 1)
‘Being back here brings a new dimension to the mission of my work … as I can see some at least little direct impact on society and policy here …. Now I think that my dissertation focus was a good choice back then.’ (Informant 16, phase 3)
The dissertation specialisation is being referred to as important for the migration decision both during the PhD studies as well as after the return. Almost all of the research participants mentioned a willingness to continue and further develop their research specialisation after finishing a PhD at WU. Over the observation time, new dimensions of their concrete specialisation emerged as the relevance and applicability of their expertise in the research conditions in their developing home country are stressed more than before. This was the case for most of our informants, who mentioned that their country of origin would be the most natural and relevant place to apply their knowledge and advance their dissertation research.
‘Back then, in the beginning, I have chosen the topic for my dissertation in sustainable tourism consciously to improve community life back home in Kenya. And I had so far no reason to change this specialisation. It fits perfectly the environment here in Kenya now. I am happy to utilise the gained knowledge.’ (Informant 4, phase 2)
‘I am lucky to get this opportunity to study abroad. I know I can be beneficial back home and bring some positive changes. Only if I could not find a proper job back in Benin, I would have to find it elsewhere.’ (Informant 19, phase 1)
‘I feel even more strongly responsible and obliged now, more than before during my studies, to contribute to the development of society and economy here, in Benin, where my home is, where I can contribute the most.’ (Informant 19, phase 2)
These results reflect the return migration reasoning along with the growing internalisation of the responsibility for home-country development and increased sensitivity towards social themes along the life course. A willingness to help home-country societies develop generally strengthens over the time observed.
‘I have to struggle a lot with the rigid structures here. The laboratory is also so much less equipped compared to Wageningen and the work I do is generally much slower and less effective here … but it still makes sense to me, I belong here (Malaysia). I feel obliged to slowly bring some improvements here and this country needs it more than NL or those Westernised universities ….’ (Informant 16, phase 3)
‘I am entering a new phase of my life now and I think that more responsible attitudes belong to it compared to my past. I am now lecturer at university. It feels good that I got the knowledge at the WU and now I can use it to help my country. There was incredible facility (at WU), it helped me to grow professionally, they had very professional approach there, even though I found it a bit too individually focused. But maybe even more important than the gained contacts, social capital and the knowledge aspect was to get exposed to the highly developed society there. You know, it helped me to grow and improve myself. … People seem to respect me here. I am involved in tourism-conservation and land-use strategies in Kenya and I want to continue the development contribution from here, that is my mission now. … I am more useful in Kenya than I would be elsewhere. And this feeling of helping overweighs other not so positive aspects of life in Africa. You know, people here act more in a slow mode, appointments mostly do not work out, people get very late due to public transport limitation and the traffic jam. And the facilities and infrastructure in general is of terrible quality. So work is much less effective compared to Wageningen. … Anyhow, I try to act morally in my institution here. I try to make responsible decisions now, I think more than before, based not on money at the first place ….’ (Informant 4, phase 3)
The research participants are reflecting on how, during their international study experience, and partly due to exposure to highly developed academic society in the Netherlands, their feelings of moral responsibility and the importance of ethically correct decisions has grown over time. In this specific aspect their migration decision-making process reflects postmodern and post-materialist tendencies incorporated in modernisation theory (for example, Inglehart and Welzel, 2005; Inglehart, 2018).
To describe and explain modernisation theory clearly goes beyond the scope of this paper. Nevertheless, let us pinpoint some important features that are closely related to our topic to make the interpretation of our empirical results easier. Modernisation theory (being robust, complex and dynamic – with several development shifts – Inglehart, 2018) suggests and shows that socio-economic development brings major changes in society, culture and politics. Modernisation brings cultural changes that lead to the emergence and flourishing of democratic institutions. ‘The growth of human autonomy is the theme underlying the processes of modernization, rising self-expression values, and democratization. These processes give rise to increasingly humanistic societies, that is, societies with a people-centered orientation’ (Inglehart and Welzel, 2005: 6). It is about not an egocentric but a humanistic orientation toward human emancipation and autonomy. Thus, one can mention important post-materialist values like respect and movements for the rights of children, women, gays and lesbians, people living with disabilities, and ethnic minorities, and universal goals such as environmental protection and ecological sustainability but also intensive communal activities and political participation (Inglehart and Welzel, 2005).
So, our informants’ narratives with their life orientation’s development trajectories fit well with arguments within modernisation theory. This is further strengthened by the fact that, as has been empirically proved many times (Inglehart and Welzel, 2005, 2010, Inglehart, 2018), the Netherlands, where our informants studied and integrated into its society, is one of the most typical post-materialist countries in the world. Moreover, being young and highly qualified, as are our PhD students, further bolsters the absorbing (and then adopting and spreading) of all these post-materialist values (highly qualified young people are the most typical holders of post-materialist values – see Inglehart and Welzel, 2005, 2010).
When combining the modernisation theory with a concept of social remittances and more broadly, also the migration–development nexus (Levitt, 1998; Drbohlav and Dzúrová, 2020), the return migration strategies of some of our informants and their fulfilment also have their own conceptual support. These migrants have the greatest possibilities to bring and further spread new enriching values, practices and novelties back to their home less-developed countries, while contributing to their development.
Discussion and conclusions
The conclusions of this study reflect the long-term development of the migration strategies of international PhD students coming from developing countries. It has been argued that having the status of international PhD student does not make the migrants disconnected from their families, as they have feelings of responsibility towards their ageing parents, which grew stronger over the observation time / progression of the life course. However, they make conscious migration choices from a specific mature self-confident position. Our findings suggest that the concrete specialisation of their PhD research project and its applicability in their home country is an important influence on their potential or real return. This represents our new contribution to the specific debate on highly educated migration. Our results show how an apparent moral responsibility towards the home society and a willingness to help countries of migratory origin was growing stronger over the observation time, which is of crucial importance in the context of the developing countries. This strong and growing aspect of conscious responsibility combined with the privileged position of a PhD student (ensuring a good and well-paid job in future as well as a stronger position in the social hyperarchy) are symptomatic for our research participants. We posit that these highly educated migrants represent a strong potential for the development of their home countries as they can bring back home the top knowledge, innovations and post-material values internalised through their academic experience in the Netherlands.
When describing the decision-making process, all of the informants mentioned combining their professional (mostly academic work) and personal or family life. Balancing these two aspects of their lives could be seen as key to understanding the studied process. Our findings confirm that the motivation of return migration of highly educated individuals reaches beyond the economic aspects (Crescenzi et al, 2017), and going beyond that, our longitudinal research on the case of developing countries suggests that the non-economic factors become stronger over time. Generally, the shifting priorities of the PhD students involved in this research are being continuously redefined over their life course; their migration strategies become more complex and involve additional influences as their life course progresses, and growing professional opportunities over the observation time. Return migration intentions are influenced by numerous intervening factors often regarded as responsibilities on diverse scales. Among other commitments, family responsibilities were stressed by all of the students interviewed. The overall socio-cultural context and the complex roles of families need to be recognised in studying migration decision-making and shifting strategies. Changing circumstances, including life course transitions and developments in family or relationship status, have a strong relation to the migration strategies of PhD students, as they need to continuously balance family- and career-oriented decisions. The strong influence of the transition from university to work life, and biographical status development on migration decisions identified among our informants, further expands previous conclusions of life course literature (Ackers, 2004; Glorius, 2016; Rakovcová, 2017). Work–family balance strategies described by our informants also confirm earlier findings (Gardner, 2002; Leung, 2013; Achenbach, 2016). We discovered that, whereas short-term goals often relate to professional ambitions and career advancement, aspirations in family formation and child-rearing become increasingly prominent over the observation time and play a strong role in long-term migration prospects (see Bonney et al, 1999; Lindstrom and Giorguli-Saucedo, 2007; Kõu et al, 2015). Indeed, this demonstrates an individual’s shift on the life course ladder when the situation becomes increasingly complex over time. Significantly, the notion of obligations towards ageing parents and a growing tendency towards fulfilling the traditional roles and expectations of the home culture grew stronger over the observation time. Considering either care at a distance or relocating to provide care and support to ageing parents or children at home was an important aspect influencing the migration decision of almost all our research participants. This is in line with prior research on family-related migration (Kofman, 2004). However fluid, modern and free their migration behaviour is, there is also a strong place-related family concern involved in migration plans. These findings are supported by Inglehart and Baker (2000), who argue that despite the massive cultural change, the persistence of distinctive cultural traditions can be detected. What makes our PhD research participants different from general international students and other migrants described by (Waters, 2005, 2006) is the way they decide about their migration, being especially responsible from a self-confident conscious position and subordinating their decisions strictly to the wishes of parents or wider families.
Another responsibility which was expressed as a strong return motivation factor by the majority of research participants (some 86%) is the feeling of obligation to help the home country develop. Such intentions may partly relate to their field of studies and specialisation, namely the concrete focus of migrants’ dissertations. The role of the discipline of study as a factor determining international students’ destination country has been mentioned in previous research (Soon, 2012). What makes our contribution new, however, is the specific role of the concrete PhD research specialisation (and its applicability in the home context) in the international migration strategies as shown by our results. As far as the authors are aware, there is no published work on this topic, which plays an important role in the brain gain potential for developing countries. Within traditional migration theories, economic welfare is generally seen as one of the strongest motives for migration behaviour (Massey et al, 1998). In contrast, our study shows a different decision-making setup. While a higher quality of life and social welfare benefits are the strongest return motives among migrants from developed countries (Konzett-Smoliner, 2016), our highly educated informants had rather different main motives to return to their less-developed countries of origin, where the overall quality of life or social services are typically of lower quality than those in the hosting highly developed country. Through their international experience and intensive exposure to a truly postmodern society in the Netherlands, and an international university environment, our informants applied post-material components to their migration decision-making process. They tend to transform their material economic aspects of migration decisions into moral, ethical and humanistic reasons for potential return migration. These shifts are in line with the theory of modernisation and cultural change and support the idea of a typical representative of post-materialism – mostly young and highly educated – as discussed earlier (Inglehart and Welzel, 2005). Our research shows how, within the context of global development, the notion of responsibility towards the home society, and the willingness to help the countries of origin develop, play an increasingly stronger role in the migration decision-making process over the observation time. The research participants often voluntarily give up part of their personal welfare through their location decision. For them, return is not an obligation but a conscious choice.
We suggest that further research should be undertaken to validate promising results on a larger sample size. This study focuses on the scale of individuals; the meso and macro levels of analyses are mostly neglected due to the limited scope of this paper. Also, migration strategy development later along the life course and a comparison within differently developed social care systems should be examined in future research. We are aware of these limitations, as the comparatively small and non-representative sample may not deliver definite generalisations. Nevertheless, we believe the results can be used to further conceptualise studies in this field in the future. Our research brings insight in the area of basic research and helps understand how the migration strategies of graduates of Western universities who come from developing countries shape and develop over time. The findings of this paper are also of practical relevance both for the practices of educational institutions and for state policies as these affect individual migration decisions and range far beyond labour-market opportunities and strictly economic incentives. When addressing the academic migration incentives of the actors involved, the following aspects should be considered: broadening the support social system of care for members of the broad family (especially ageing ones) in the developing countries of origin; improving research facilities at universities; and emphasising the crucial importance of the initial choice of the dissertation research topic with a focus on the aspects of local applicability and relevance in the developing countries.
Funding
This work was supported by Charles University funding under Grant of the project SVV 260566.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by Charles University funding from the project SVV 260566. The authors are very grateful to the PhD students who participated in the in-depth interviews and the longitudinal correspondence. Our special thanks are extended to Meghann Ormond from Cultural Geography Group of Wageningen University for her valuable advice and assistance, which has been greatly appreciated. We would also wish to thank the Editor and two anonymous referees for their insightful comments.
Data availability statement
The authors declare that they take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the analysis. Detailed original data is not available to other researchers.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
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