IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0118183.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Will They Stay or Will They Go? International Graduate Students and Their Decisions to Stay or Leave the U.S. upon Graduation

Author

Listed:
  • Xueying Han
  • Galen Stocking
  • Matthew A Gebbie
  • Richard P Appelbaum

Abstract

The U.S. currently enjoys a position among the world’s foremost innovative and scientifically advanced economies but the emergence of new economic powerhouses like China and India threatens to disrupt the global distribution of innovation and economic competitiveness. Among U.S. policy makers, the promotion of advanced education, particularly in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) fields, has become a key strategy for ensuring the U.S.’s position as an innovative economic leader. Since approximately one third of science and engineering post-graduate students in the U.S. are foreign born, the future of the U.S. STEM educational system is intimately tied to issues of global competitiveness and American immigration policy. This study utilizes a combination of national education data, a survey of foreign-born STEM graduate students, and in-depth interviews of a sub-set of those students to explain how a combination of scientists’ and engineers’ educational decisions, as well as their experience in school, can predict a students’ career path and geographical location, which can affect the long-term innovation environment in their home and destination country. This study highlights the fact that the increasing global competitiveness in STEM education and the complex, restrictive nature of U.S. immigration policies are contributing to an environment where the American STEM system may no longer be able to comfortably remain the premier destination for the world’s top international students.

Suggested Citation

  • Xueying Han & Galen Stocking & Matthew A Gebbie & Richard P Appelbaum, 2015. "Will They Stay or Will They Go? International Graduate Students and Their Decisions to Stay or Leave the U.S. upon Graduation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(3), pages 1-18, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0118183
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0118183
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0118183
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0118183&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0118183?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Amelie Constant & Douglas S. Massey, 2003. "Self-selection, earnings, and out-migration: A longitudinal study of immigrants to Germany," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 16(4), pages 631-653, November.
    2. Margarida Fontes & Pedro Videira & Teresa Calapez, 2013. "The Impact of Long-term Scientific Mobility on the Creation of Persistent Knowledge Networks," Mobilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(3), pages 440-465, September.
    3. William R. Kerr, 2008. "Ethnic Scientific Communities and International Technology Diffusion," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 90(3), pages 518-537, August.
    4. Baldwin, Robert E. & Winters, L. Alan (ed.), 2004. "Challenges to Globalization," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226036151.
    5. repec:ecj:econjl:v:122:y:2012:i::p:339-375 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Bratsberg, Bernt, 1995. "The incidence of non-return among foreign students in the United States," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(4), pages 373-384, December.
    7. Dustmann, Christian & Kirchkamp, Oliver, 2002. "The optimal migration duration and activity choice after re-migration," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 351-372, April.
    8. Siow Yue CHIA, 2006. "Labor Mobility and East Asian Integration," Asian Economic Policy Review, Japan Center for Economic Research, vol. 1(2), pages 349-367, December.
    9. Agrawal, Ajay & Kapur, Devesh & McHale, John & Oettl, Alexander, 2011. "Brain drain or brain bank? The impact of skilled emigration on poor-country innovation," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 43-55, January.
    10. repec:bla:scotjp:v:48:y:2001:i:2:p:164-78 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Simon Commander & Mari Kangasniemi & L. Alan Winters, 2004. "The Brain Drain: Curse or Boon? A Survey of the Literature," NBER Chapters, in: Challenges to Globalization: Analyzing the Economics, pages 235-272, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Regets, Mark, 2001. "Research and Policy Issues in High-Skilled International Migration: A Perspective with Data from the United States," IZA Discussion Papers 366, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Tung, Rosalie L., 2008. "Brain circulation, diaspora, and international competitiveness," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 26(5), pages 298-304, October.
    14. Eric T. Stuen & Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak & Keith E. Maskus, 2012. "Skilled Immigration and Innovation: Evidence from Enrolment Fluctuations in US Doctoral Programmes," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(565), pages 1143-1176, December.
    15. Oecd, 2013. "How is International Student Mobility Shaping Up?," Education Indicators in Focus 14, OECD Publishing.
    16. Barry McCormick & Jackline Wahba, 2001. "Overseas Work Experience, Savings and Entrepreneurship Amongst Return Migrants to LDCs," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 48(2), pages 164-178, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Gesing, Peggy & Glass, Chris, 2019. "STEM student mobility intentions post-graduation and the role of reverse push-pull factors," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 227-236.
    2. Gokhan Aykac, 2021. "The value of an overseas research trip," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(8), pages 7097-7122, August.
    3. Cao, Nguyet Thi Khanh, 2022. "Determinants of international students’ decision to remain in Japan to work after graduation," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    4. Alisa Kazakova & Meerim Karimova & Insin Kim, 2021. "Examining Rapport with Local People, International Students’ Roles through Travel Experience and Sustainable Tourism," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-15, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Luca Marchiori & I-Ling Shen & Frédéric Docquier, 2013. "Brain Drain In Globalization: A General Equilibrium Analysis From The Sending Countries' Perspective," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 51(2), pages 1582-1602, April.
    2. Björn NILSSON, 2019. "Education and migration: insights for policymakers," Working Paper 23ca9c54-061a-4d60-967c-f, Agence française de développement.
    3. Blaise Gnimassoun & John C. Anyanwu, 2019. "The Diaspora and economic development in Africa," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 155(4), pages 785-817, November.
    4. Boly, Amadou & Coniglio, Nicola Daniele & Prota, Francesco & Seric, Adnan, 2014. "Diaspora Investments and Firm Export Performance in Selected Sub-Saharan African Countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 422-433.
    5. Blaise Gnimassoun & John Anyanwu, 2019. "Working Paper 308 - The Diaspora and Economic Development in Africa," Working Paper Series 2434, African Development Bank.
    6. Agarwal, Ruchir & Ganguli, Ina & Gaulé, Patrick & Smith, Geoff, 2023. "Why U.S. immigration matters for the global advancement of science," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(1).
    7. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William Kerr & Çağlar Özden & Christopher Parsons, 2016. "Global Talent Flows," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(4), pages 83-106, Fall.
    8. Jaime Aboites & Claudia Díaz, 2018. "Inventors’ mobility in Mexico in the context of globalization," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 115(3), pages 1443-1461, June.
    9. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William Kerr & Çağlar Özden & Christopher Parsons, 2017. "High-Skilled Migration and Agglomeration," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 9(1), pages 201-234, September.
    10. Ramana Nanda & Tarun Khanna, 2010. "Diasporas and Domestic Entrepreneurs: Evidence from the Indian Software Industry," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 19(4), pages 991-1012, December.
    11. Ernest Miguélez, 2018. "Inventor Diasporas and the Internationalization of Technology," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 32(1), pages 41-63.
    12. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2017_002 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. RosalindS. Hunter & Andrew J. Oswald & Bruce G. Charlton, 2009. "The Elite Brain Drain," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(538), pages 231-251, June.
    14. Zhang, Jingjing & Leoncini, Riccardo & Tsai, Yingyi, 2018. "Intellectual property rights protection, labour mobility and wage inequality," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 239-244.
    15. Sari Pekkala Kerr & William R. Kerr & William F. Lincoln, 2015. "Firms and the Economics of Skilled Immigration," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 115-152.
    16. Fernandez-Zubieta, Ana & Geuna, Aldo & Lawson, Cornelia, 2015. "What do We Know of the Mobility of Research Scientists and of its Impact on Scientific Production," Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis. Working Papers 201522, University of Turin.
    17. Docquier, Frederic & Rapoport, Hillel, 2004. "Skilled migration: the perspective of developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3382, The World Bank.
    18. Michael A. Clemens, 2016. "Losing our minds? New research directions on skilled emigration and development," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 37(7), pages 1227-1248, October.
    19. Elisabetta Lodigiani, 2009. "Diaspora Externalities as a Cornerstone of the New Brain Drain Literature," Development Working Papers 277, Centro Studi Luca d'Agliano, University of Milano.
    20. José Luis Groizard & Joan Llull, 2006. "Skilled migration and growth. Testing brain drain and brain gain theories," DEA Working Papers 20, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Departament d'Economía Aplicada.
    21. Philippe De Vreyer & Flore Gubert & Anne-Sophie Robilliard, 2010. "Are There Returns to Migration Experience? An Empirical Analysis using Data on Return Migrants and Non-Migrants in West Africa," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 97-98, pages 307-328.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0118183. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.