Bodies in Turkey, brains abroad: Brain drain in Turkey is sounding the alarm!

Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan, Head of the Sociology Department at Üsküdar University, evaluated the wave of brain drain that Turkey has experienced in recent years.

'MOST OF THOSE WHO MIGRATE ABROAD...'

Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan stated that most of those who migrate abroad consist of highly educated and qualified young people, saying, "When we look at a country, the migration of people who are educated, qualified, and especially those working in professions with intensive cognitive activities is defined as brain drain. In the past, people who mostly possessed manual labor skills migrated from Turkey; however, today, our country's most valuable people are migrating."

WHAT DOES 'VIRTUAL BRAIN DRAIN' MEAN?

Pointing out that brain drain is a phenomenon that generally occurs from underdeveloped or developing countries to developed countries, Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan said, "This is the visible brain drain. In addition to this, there is also 'virtual brain drain.' What does this mean? Today, many of our young people, through the internet, work for companies abroad without leaving Turkey. In other words, they are physically in Turkey, but their brains are working for abroad. It is a situation called hidden brain drain. They work in Turkey for foreign companies and provide services to those firms."

THIS CAPITAL OF OURS IS SLOWLY SLIPPING AWAY

Emphasizing that brain drain has reached a dangerous dimension for Turkey, Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan said, "The figures announced by TÜİK cover people who graduated between 2008 and 2017 and went abroad after these dates. Although TÜİK has not given a clear figure, if we assume that 2 percent of those who graduated during this time frame went abroad, we can say that approximately 49 thousand people have gone abroad. However, it is not limited to these 49 thousand people. We do not yet know the migration status of those who graduated from 2017 to 2023. We think that the real intensity, as we all frequently encounter in our surroundings, is within this period. In the past, to exploit a country, one would go to its mines and seize them. Now there is no need for that. A country's most valuable resource is its human capital; however, this capital of ours is slowly slipping away. This situation is quite dangerous."

THERE ARE TWO MAIN REASONS FOR BRAIN DRAIN

Stating that there are two main reasons for brain drain, Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan continued:

"As someone who has also lived abroad for a period, I can say this: There are two main reasons for brain drain; the first is push factors, and the second is pull factors. Push factors are related to why people want to leave here. First of all, employment opportunities are quite limited. For example, how much employment power do we have in Turkey in fields like molecular biology? Neither our universities nor our private sector have sufficient capacity. In the United States, the budget of Harvard University alone, including donations, is approximately 50 billion dollars. The total budget of our 200 universities is not even under 10 billion dollars. When you compare our 200 universities with a single university, you can see how insufficient the opportunities offered here are, especially in technical fields. If Aziz Sancar had stayed in Turkey, could he have won the Nobel Prize? If Uğur Şahin had continued his education and work in Turkey, could he have achieved the same successes?"

EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES BECOME A PULL FACTOR FOR BRAIN DRAIN

Expressing that income levels have fallen significantly due to factors such as the economic crisis in Turkey in recent years, and on the other hand, there are much better living conditions and opportunities abroad, Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan said, "Although Western countries have made conditions more difficult for blue-collar workers and immigrants in general for many years, they are, on the contrary, providing ease to attract educated people. Countries like Germany, the European Union, and the United States are improving their policies towards brain drain with opportunities like the Blue Card or Green Card."

THE COUNTRIES THAT ATTRACT THE MOST BRAIN DRAIN IN THE WORLD...

Also stating that the countries that attract the most brain drain in the world are the United States; followed by countries such as Germany, England, Canada, Australia, France, and Belgium, Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan said, "The center of brain drain is the United States. In fact, the US even receives brain drain from Canada. Because the biggest IT companies and the biggest laboratories are there. The budget of just one American university is 5 times the total budget of 200 universities in Turkey. Developments in fields such as artificial intelligence, molecular biology, and genetics make America, which has a strong ecosystem in these fields, attractive. A successful company in this field might emerge from Turkey; however, this alone is not enough. A sector ecosystem, an appropriate corporate mentality, and a climate that will support this success are needed."

WHEN THE CHANCE FOR ADVANCEMENT DECREASES...

Noting that when one enters a company or university, if there is no suitable climate, many bureaucratic obstacles can be encountered, Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan said, "This leads a person to ask, 'What am I doing here?' The person thinks that their path is being blocked and their chance for advancement is decreasing. The United States is leading by a wide margin; Germany stands out as an exception in this regard."

NOT ONLY YOUNG PEOPLE, BUT ALSO PEOPLE OVER MIDDLE AGE ARE MIGRATING ABROAD

Regarding which departments have more departures abroad, Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan stated that the fields referred to as "STEM" in the literature, which we can translate into Turkish as "Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics," are the most attractive and popular fields, saying, "When we look from Turkey, 2 out of every 10 people who graduate in fields like molecular biology and genetics go abroad. The same situation applies to business, engineering, mathematics, statistics, and other engineering fields. In today's and the future's world, data processing and data understanding are quite important; because artificial intelligence logic is built on this. For this reason, our people working in technical fields, not just young people, but also people over middle age are migrating abroad. They either go physically or, as I mentioned, they migrate virtually; that is, while their bodies remain here, their brains work for abroad."

AS OPPORTUNITIES CHANGE, THE DESIRE TO RETURN MAY ALSO INCREASE...

Expressing that brains move very quickly in the global world, Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan continued:

"Other countries are also doing their best to support this situation and attract them to themselves. However, because sufficient opportunities are not provided here, people easily evaluate different opportunities and go abroad. It is really not easy to go somewhere; encountering difficulties such as ensuring cultural integration and language problems is inevitable. A person can be nowhere like their homeland. However, this migration has now become an escape from hopelessness rather than a journey of hope. Still, it is possible to return. As opportunities change, the desire to return may also increase."

ARE THERE MORE WOMEN OR MEN AMONG THOSE WHO GO ABROAD? 

Noting that the phenomenon of migration is generally carried out more by men, Prof. Dr. Barış Erdoğan said, "However, the difference between women and men in statistics from past years is gradually closing. First of all, this needs to be stated. The number of women is getting closer and closer to men. If this trend continues, in 10 years, the difference between these two groups will almost disappear. One of the important reasons for the male density in brain drain is that fields such as science, technology, and mathematics are preferred more by men. In terms of brain drain, many countries also want to attract technical people rather than social scientists; therefore, men make up the majority of those who graduate from technical fields."

News Source: 12punto