IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unm/unumer/2020016.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Migration of higher education students from the North Africa Region to the United Kingdom

Author

Listed:
  • Nour, Samia

    (University of Khartoum, and UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University)

Abstract

This paper uses both the descriptive and comparative approaches to provide an overview of migration of higher education students from North Africa to the United Kingdom (UK). We fill the gap in the African literature and present a more comprehensive and recent analysis of migration of higher education students from the North Africa region to the UK using UNESCO recent secondary data on international students mobility in tertiary education. We provide an interesting comparative analysis of migration of higher education students from the North Africa region to the UK. A novel element in our analysis is that we examine migration of higher education students from the North Africa region to the UK from both national and regional perspectives; mainly we discuss migration of higher education students for each individual country in the North Africa region (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan and Tunisia) and then discuss the total for the entire North Africa region. Therefore, we provide an extremely valuable contribution to the increasing debate in the international literature concerning the increasing interaction between migration and increasing internationalisation of higher education. Our findings support the first hypothesis that from a national perspective, the pattern and size of migration of higher education students from the North Africa region to the UK increased substantially over the period (2000-2017/2018) but the distribution showed considerable variation across North African countries. Our results corroborate the second hypothesis that the increasing trend of migration of higher education students from the North Africa region to the UK is caused by several push-pull factors (e.g. economic, social, political, cultural and educational). Our results support the third hypothesis that migrations of higher education students from North Africa to the UK lead to mixed positive and negative impacts (e.g. transfer of knowledge, brain gain and skill acquisition for returned migrant students, but weak capacity to retain talents and brain drain for non-returned migrant students). Our findings corroborate the fourth hypothesis that skills of migrant higher education students from the North Africa region can be better mobilised in their countries of origin by addressing the push-pull factors that determine migration of skills from the North Africa region.

Suggested Citation

  • Nour, Samia, 2020. "Migration of higher education students from the North Africa Region to the United Kingdom," MERIT Working Papers 2020-016, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    • Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2020016
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://unu-merit.nl/publications/wppdf/2020/wp2020-016.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Beine, Michel & Noël, Romain & Ragot, Lionel, 2014. "Determinants of the international mobility of students," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 40-54.
    2. Michel Beine & Pauline Bourgeon & Jean‐Charles Bricongne, 2019. "Aggregate Fluctuations and International Migration," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 121(1), pages 117-152, January.
    3. Timothy J. Hatton & Jeffrey G. Williamson, 2003. "Demographic and Economic Pressure on Emigration out of Africa," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 105(3), pages 465-486, September.
    4. Nour, S., 2014. "Migration of international students and mobilizing skills in the MENA Region," MERIT Working Papers 2014-031, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    5. World Bank, 2017. "World Development Indicators 2017," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 26447.
    6. Mayda, Anna Maria, 2005. "International Migration: A Panel Data Analysis of Economic and Non-Economic Determinants," IZA Discussion Papers 1590, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Nahid Aslanbeigui & Veronica Montecinos, 1998. "Foreign Students in U.S. Doctoral Programs," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 171-182, Summer.
    8. David Karemera & Victor Iwuagwu Oguledo & Bobby Davis, 2000. "A gravity model analysis of international migration to North America," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(13), pages 1745-1755.
    9. Grogger, Jeffrey & Hanson, Gordon H., 2011. "Income maximization and the selection and sorting of international migrants," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 42-57, May.
    10. Agarwal, Vinod B & Winkler, Donald R, 1985. "Foreign Demand for United States Higher Education: A Study of Developing Countries in the Eastern Hemisphere," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 33(3), pages 623-644, April.
    11. Donata Bessey, 2012. "International student migration to Germany," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 345-361, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Satti Osman Mohamed Nour, Samia, 2019. "Migration of higher education students from North Africa Region," MERIT Working Papers 2019-010, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    2. Beine, Michel & Noël, Romain & Ragot, Lionel, 2014. "Determinants of the international mobility of students," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 40-54.
    3. Malik Fahim Bashir & Changsheng Xu & Khalid Zaman & Ghulam Akhmat, 2014. "Key Factors Determining the Rationale for Brain Drain: An Irony Never Recovered," International Journal of Economics and Empirical Research (IJEER), The Economics and Social Development Organization (TESDO), vol. 2(8), pages 308-320, August.
    4. Levatino, Antonina, 2015. "Transnational higher education and skilled migration: Evidence from Australia," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 106-116.
    5. Aziz, Nusrate & Chowdhury, Murshed & Cooray, Arusha, 2022. "Why do people from wealthy countries migrate?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    6. Laila Touhami Morghem & Khawlah Ali Abdalla Spetan, 2020. "Determinants of International Migration: An Applied Study on Selected Arab Countries (1995-2017)," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 10(2), pages 6-19.
    7. Thu Hien DAO & Frédéric DOCQUIER & Mathilde MAUREL & Pierre SCHAUS, 2017. "Global Migration in the 20th and 21st Centuries: the Unstoppable Force of Demography," Working Paper 96d89f28-0e80-4703-9b33-6, Agence française de développement.
    8. Michel Beine & Marco Delogu & Lionel Ragot, 2017. "The Role of Fees in Foreign Education: Evidence From Italy and the United Kingdom," Working Papers 2017-04, CEPII research center.
    9. Driouchi, Ahmed, 2014. "Economics of Migration of Students from the Arab Region to OECD countries," MPRA Paper 58830, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Daniel Meierrieks & Laura Renner, 2017. "Stymied ambition: does a lack of economic freedom lead to migration?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(3), pages 977-1005, July.
    11. Demirci, Murat, 2023. "Youth responses to political populism: Education abroad as a step toward emigration," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 653-673.
    12. Michel Beine & Marco Delogu & Lionel Ragot, 2020. "The role of fees in foreign education: evidence from Italy [Determinants of international student migration]," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 20(2), pages 571-600.
    13. Hatton, Timothy J. & Williamson, Jeffrey G., 2011. "Are Third World Emigration Forces Abating?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 20-32, January.
    14. Michel Beine & Simone Bertoli & Jesús Fernández-Huertas Moraga, 2016. "A Practitioners’ Guide to Gravity Models of International Migration," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 496-512, April.
    15. Paula Stephan & Chiara Franzoni & Giuseppe Scellato, 2013. "Choice of Country by the Foreign Born for PhD and Postdoctoral Study: A Sixteen-Country Perspective," NBER Working Papers 18809, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    16. Thu Hien Dao & Frédéric Docquier & Mathilde Maurel & Pierre Schaus, 2021. "Global migration in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries: the unstoppable force of demography," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 157(2), pages 417-449, May.
    17. repec:lic:licosd:38116 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Zheng, Ping, 2014. "Antecedents to international student inflows to UK higher education: A comparative analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 136-143.
    19. Murat Demirci, 2021. "Rising Political Populism and Outmigration of Youth as International Students," Koç University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum Working Papers 2123, Koc University-TUSIAD Economic Research Forum.
    20. Claudia Lumpe, 2019. "Public beliefs in social mobility and high-skilled migration," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(3), pages 981-1008, July.
    21. Albert MILLOGO & Ines TROJETTE & Nicolas PÉRIDY, 2021. "Are government policies efficient to regulate immigration? Evidence from France," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 53, pages 23-49.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Migration; higher education students; International student mobility; Internationalisation of higher education; Africa; North African region; the United Kingdom;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I25 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Economic Development

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:unm:unumer:2020016. 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: Ad Notten (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/meritnl.html .

    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.