Gelişmekte olan ülkelerden gelişmiş ülkelere nitelikli işgücü göçü ve politikalar-Türk mühendislerinin beyin göçü üzerine bir inceleme
Özet
This study aims at exploring potential positive externalities of highly skilled migrationfrom Turkey and highlighting social policies targeting brain drain to brain gain strategies, inthe case of Turkish engineers living abroad. In spite of methodological difficulties, today it isobvious that highly skilled migration is increasing more than other types of migration. Thisstudy argues that in accordance with theoretical approaches to migration, main determinantsof highly skilled migration are; structural determinants, occupational determinants, individualdeterminants and intermediary determinants. In these determinants, occupational determinantshave the most influence on highly skilled migration.Based on the requirements of the capitalist accumulation system, today for skilledmigration main destinations are USA, Canada, Australia and some of EU countries. Thesecountries, at the national level, have transformed their migration policies in a favor of skilledmigration. Although the current literature argues that there may be some positive effects ofskilled migration on the sending countries, they can not appear at the empirical levels. Inreality, it is obvious that there are more positive effects of skilled migration on receivingcountries than the sending countries. At the global level, skilled migration causes an increasein labour productivity. However, this increase can not distribute evenly between sending andreceiving countries. In this framework, on the contrary of receiving countries, the policiesaiming at reducing the negative effects of skilled migration on the sending countries aredetermined by transnational institutions.It is not possible to follow the flow of skilled labour from Turkey, in consequence ofthe lack of statistical data. However, in the light of some studies focused on this issue, themain destination for skill flow from Turkey is the USA. Although skilled migration isdiscussed at the public opinion, strategic skilled migration policies and programs have notbeen applied as yet.. Based on our case study and further investigations, the brain drainamong Turkish engineers can be defined as a ?brain overflow?. The main structural reason ofthis situation is discrepancy between educational and employment policies. Data indicate thatthe majority of the Turkish engineers living abroad intend to give support to the developmentpractices in Turkey. The main contribution forms proposed by Turkish engineers arepartnership among colleagues living in Turkey in cooperative projects, establishment ofnetwork and forums and consultancy services to Turkish companies. To realize theseproposals, it is essential to formulate and apply public policies aiming at ?brain drain to braingain? approach, for short and long term periods.