AREA OF ACTIVITY <reBrain>

EMIGRATION AND REPATRIATION OF HIHGLY QUALIFIED YOUNG SCIENTISTS

1999 – 2006

A phantom under scrutiny

Support for innovation means supporting the next generation, especially the most highly qualified individuals. No good curriculum is complete without a post-doc stay at a top university in the United States - "where things happen". Young Swiss researchers are encouraged to leave the country for a few years after earning their doctorate. Substantial funding is available from the public purse, particularly the Swiss National Fund. At regular intervals, the question of whether this "outward subsidy" is sustainable for Switzerland as a location for science is raised. Are highly qualified young scientists emigrating, supported by tax money, to foreign universities? Is Switzerland experiencing a brain drain?

Circulation not drain

Against the background of the "war for talent" being waged since the late 1990s, particularly in the United States, GEBERT RÜF STIFTUNG launched an initiative to address the topic of brain drain. Through a number of small projects, a wide-ranging debate was started in the media. As a result, the phantom of a Swiss brain drain has dissipated, replaced by the image of brain circulation: the mark of a globally oriented academic milieu and of an attractive place to do science with strong international ties.

Objective: a positive brain balance

For Switzerland, the question arises of whether the country as a locus of innovation can offer enough attractive jobs at universities and research centres for highly qualified young scientists - regardless of whether they are Swiss. A more fundamental question is whether Switzerland's "brain balance" of highly qualified young scientists is positive or negative. As long as no figures on migration of mid-tier scientific staff are available, it will be impossible to give objective scrutiny to the brain drain phantom.