Motives for the migration of scientific, research and academic workers

• Main Authors: Eva Fichtnerová, Jitka Vacková
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: LLC "CPC "Business Perspectives" 2021-03-01
• Series: Problems and Perspectives in Management
• Subjects: brain circulation; Europe; higher education; highly-skilled; internationalization; migration
• Online Access: https://businessperspectives.org/images/pdf/applications/publishing/templates/article/assets/14742/PPM_2021_01_Fichtnerova.pdf

The higher education system needs personalities who guarantee high quality of academic and scientific performance. This paper deals with the motives of their migration to/from HEIs, knowledge of which is important for their HR management and increasing global competitiveness. The theory is based on the idea of internationalization (Knight, 2012) and push-pull factors (Ravenstein, 1889), leading to the recruitment of highly qualified labor from abroad. The analysis focused on the “circulation of brains” in modern Europe. The final part contains a graph of the research methodology.Three main areas of the motivation process affecting migration have been identified. At the macro-level, this is political support, which enables the arrival of experts and creates conditions for own professionals to gain experience abroad, but return. This applies to working conditions, adaptation, and integration. Economic conditions at the mezzo-level are based on the motives of finding a better job opportunity and one’s living conditions. The transfer of knowledge increases the country’s economic potential. At the micro-level, there is an impact of an individual’s character traits and surrounding social networks. It depends on the influence of a family, school, friends, the desire to apply language and other skills, and experience abroad. The knowledge of the motives for migration should be a stimulus for taking appropriate measures at higher education institutions leading to the creation of a multicultural environment and the readiness of HEIs to use «brain circulation» to increase their excellence in academic and scientific performance. AcknowledgmentThis research did not receive a specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. The researchers have no conflicts of interest to disclose.