Brain drain remains big challenge for Iranian gov't
By Sara Rajabova
Iran loses a large amount of money annually because of the "brain drain" from the country, professor of economics at U.S. Northeastern University, Kamran Dadkhah told AzerNews.
Dadkhah said however, it would be hard to put an exact money figure on the loss to the country due to the brain drain.
"Iran has long been among the losers in the international brain drain. Many Iranian students who studied abroad either never returned to Iran or if they did left the country after a few years. Thus, many scientists, engineers, and professionals of Iranian origin are working in universities, research organizations, industries, and companies abroad," Dadkhah said.
Iran's Science Minister Reza Faraji Dana recently said Iran annually loses $150 billion because of the "brain drain."
Dana said 150,000 members of the scientific elite of Iran immigrated to other countries, adding that the "brain drain" is a serious problem for developing countries.
The International Monetary Fund said Iran had a substantial drain of highly educated individuals (15 percent) in the early 1990s. More than 150,000 Iranians left Iran every year in the early 1990s, and an estimated 25 percent of all Iranians with post-secondary education then lived abroad in "developed" countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The IMF report said in 2009 Iran tops the list of countries losing its scientific elite, and these losses are estimated at between 150,000 to 180,000 professionals per year. It's equivalent to a capital loss of $50 billion.
Speaking about main reasons for Iranians to leave the country, he said there are professional, economic, political, and sociological reasons for this phenomenon.
The expert noted that the Iranian professionals find academia, businesses, and research communities in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe more receptive to and appreciative of their work.
"In addition, they enjoy a better living standard. But perhaps more importantly, they find freedom of thought and expression in these countries; something absent in Iran. Furthermore, there is no discrimination on the basis of gender or religion in advanced countries," Dadkhah explained.
He said in Iran they have to tolerate such discriminations and abide by arbitrary rules imposed on what they can watch or even on their dress.
"The fact that after the revolution many Iranians left Iran and took residence abroad has also helped further brain drain. Statistical analysis shows that the existence of a migrant community encourages other members of the same community to migrate and join them," Dadkhah said.
Over the past years, Iran has adopted a series of measures to slow the leakage of human capital of the country, but it seems these measures were not efficient enough to prevent "brain drain" from country.
In February 2003, the Iran National Science Foundation was established to promote science and technology in Iran and benefit the welfare of those engaged in research.
Another institution founded to deal with the welfare of Iranians in Iran working in the sciences and technology is Iran National Geniuses foundation.
Furthermore, Iran has tried to compensate for the brain drain by introducing the Graduate Record Bill, which calls for internalization and expansion of education at the graduate level, thus increasing the number of graduates.
While commenting on this issue, Dadkhah said the experience of other countries show that preconditions for stopping or slowing down brain drain are economic growth, work opportunities, and democracy and freedom of expression.
He said the same conditions could potentially encourage professional migrants to return to the country of their birth.
"But it should be pointed out that those in power in Iran may not want scientists, engineers, and professionals to return to Iran. Indeed, the Iranian government may prefer that such people leave the country. After all, those who have studied sciences are not likely to fall for superstition and voodoo advocated by clerics and their followers," Dadkhah noted.