1/11 (Wed.) The Brain-drain We Are Facing? (Host: Na'vi)

[chiron]

[Definition]
PERHAPS the oldest question in economics is why some countries are rich while others are poor. Economic theory has emphasized that differences in the educational levels of the population are an important part of the answer and that improved schooling opportunities should raise incomes in developing countries. Yet, while there is little doubt that highly educated workers in many developing countries are scarce, it is also true that many scientists, engineers, physicians, and other professionals from developing countries work in Canada, the United States, and
Western Europe. This phenomenon, often referred to as the “brain drain,” was noticed as early as the 1960s.

[Case Study]
AsianScientist (Aug. 17, 2011) – Taiwan’s Academia Sinica (中央研究院) President Chi-Huey Wong, along with several key leaders in Taiwan’s academic, business, arts, and media sectors have issued a declaration, calling on the government and society to pay attention to Taiwan’s imbalance between supply and demand for talented professionals.
In their “Declaration on Talent Recruitment (Mandarin)” released on Sunday, August 14, the 18 leaders urged for concrete changes in government policy, administrative systems, and the overall environment to make Taiwan more attractive in competing for the world’s professionals.
They also warned that should Taiwan fail to address the crisis, the island could expect to lose its competitive edge in the coming years, as Asia becomes the new global center.

“After the economic crisis, it is generally expected that the Asia-Pacific will become the next global center, where there will be a flow of talented people and competition for human resources.”
“All of our neighboring countries have embraced these new opportunities by modifying laws to create a friendly environment for foreign talent,” they said.

These neighbors, such as China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and Korea, were taking the recruitment of talent very seriously, the report said.

“China has plans to recruit two thousand engineers who will potentially lead key technology breakthroughs in the next five to ten years. The same goes for Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, and Korea.”
“They have prepared for this as if it were a war. However, the Taiwanese government has not been reactive to this trend which may potentially cause a brain drain crisis,” they cautioned.

Despite the heated dispute over high unemployment rates in Taiwan, the leaders noted an exodus of talented, experienced individuals who were products of the Taiwanese education system.

“Every year there are around 400,000 immigrants to Taiwan, among which only 20,000 are skilled immigrants. On the other hand, about 20,000 people emigrate from Taiwan annually, most of who are white-collar or technical workers.”
“Therefore, if government does not react to this problem, Taiwan will lose most of its high quality workforce and gradually erode its competitiveness in industry and academia,” they said.

They noted the difficulty of retaining talent in academic positions with the current salaries offered to academics.

“The most urgent problem is to break down the barriers in the system for the recruitment of talented individuals and create a welcoming atmosphere.”
“In Taiwan, the salary system in academia is no difference than in public office. The unattractive salary causes tremendous difficulty in promoting the sector, which results in the emigration of these people to neighboring countries where salaries are much higher,” they said.

The leaders also pointed out the difficulty for talented foreigners to gain entry to academic positions in Taiwan.

“Likewise, in the world economy where enterprises operate on a global scale, the difficulty in obtaining work permits in Taiwan prevents global talent from coming to Taiwan.”

In conclusion, they wrote that it was not too late for Taiwan to regain its academic competitiveness and reverse the brain drain, creating “another great era of prosperity” in Taiwan.

[Source]
http://www.asianscientist.com/academia/ ... cruitment/
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-55106627.html

[Extended Reading]
http://tw.mag.chinayes.com/Content/2011 ... B5C8.shtml

[Session 1]
1. Have you ever been abroad, or have you ever worked or lived with foreigners in Taiwan, what’s the difference being a host or guest? And what’s the difference between short stay and long stay (emigration or immigration).
2. To an individual level, what’s the advantage or disadvantage of cross-border movement? To a national or global level, same question as before.
3. If you got the chance, would you live to emigrate? Where would you like to go? If not, why?

[Session 2]
1. Except what this article discussed, what’s the other causes of Taiwanese brain-drain? Who plays a major part in Taiwanese brain-drain, pls put demographical factors (gender, age, background..) into consideration? And where do they go mostly?
2. If you’re government official, what would you suggest our government to avoid brain-drain?
3. Are there any win-win solution to brain-drain to host country or origin country? For example, diaspora could be our overseas brain reservoir.

[vocabulary]
immigration 移入
immigrant 移入居民
migration 移出
migrant 移出居民
diaspora 外僑


********************************************************************************************************************************************
Agenda:
6:45 ~ 7:00pm Greetings & Free Talk / Ordering Beverage or Meal / Getting Newcomer’s Information
7:00 ~ 7:10pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
7:10 ~ 7:50pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
7:50 ~ 8:10pm Summarization (20 mins)
8:10 ~ 8:25pm Regrouping / Instruction Giving / Taking a 10 Minutes Break (Intermission)
(Session II)
8:25 ~ 9:05pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
9:05 ~ 9:25pm Summarization (20 mins)
9:25 ~ 9:30pm Concluding Remarks / Announcements ********************************************************************************************************************************************
聚會日期：列於該貼文主題內
聚會時間：當天請準時於 6:45 pm 到達 ~ 約 9:30 pm 左右結束
星期三聚會地點：丹堤濟南店
地址、電話：台北市濟南路三段25號 地圖 (02) 2740-2350
捷運站：板南線 忠孝新生站 3 號出口
走法：出忠孝新生站 3 號出口後，沿著巷子(忠孝東路三段10巷)走約 2 分鐘，到了濟南路口，左轉走約 2 分鐘即可看到。
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[Kooper]

Dear YOYO members,

I'll hold a 20-minute listening session before the meeting, from 6:40 to 7:00. If you're interested in it, please come earlier. See you there.

Kooper

[Josh]

Dear YOYO members,

I'll hold a 20-minute listening session before the meeting, from 6:40 to 7:00. If you're interested in it, please come earlier. See you there.

Kooper

Cool......I love the special session.... I will be there.

[Michael-liu]

I love the listening session too, I will be there

Michael

[Kooper]

Dear YOYO members,

I'll hold a 20-minute listening session before the meeting, from 6:40 to 7:00. If you're interested in it, please come earlier. See you there.

Kooper

Hi all,

Here is the link of the 1-minute scientific news that we were listening to today. Hope it helps.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podca ... o-11-08-21

[Kooper]

attendees(18): Navi, Michael,Stephen Chiu, Kooper, Josh, Luis, Sunny Sr., Maggie, Timothy, Alex, Caroline, Rosie, Yumi, Tim, Steve, Jason, Claire, Gavin

[technobabel]

Prime minister of India, once observed,. “better brain drain than brain in the drain”.

Hi guys, long time no see, I had to reset my password in order to get in to this forum.
I really miss all the time I had spent in this club.

[Sherry Liao]

Prime minister of India, once observed,. “better brain drain than brain in the drain”.

Hi guys, long time no see, I had to reset my password in order to get in to this forum.
I really miss all the time I had spent in this club.

Dear Wayne,

I miss you, too. It's really great to see you here again.

[technobabel]

Hi Sherry
I am a bit surprised that this forum didn't brain-drain and flourish on the facebook platform, which is a much more interactive and dynamic.

[Marko]

Hey YoYos,

Now, this is an interesting topic and I wish I was there to throw in my two cents worth. Can anybody fill me in on what the conclusion was?

BTW, Happy CNY to all of you!


Marko

[Luis Ko]

hello Marko, there was no conclusion, as far as i'm concerned. or i must have been totally absent minded haa.

my personal opinion about it is "pay for what you want". i mean the government, organizations or company or whatever it is, should offer those "brains" something they want to exchange what they need from the brains, say money, fame(or prestige?) or anything they deserve. anyway, incentive matters i would say.

[Sherry Liao]

Hi Sherry
I am a bit surprised that this forum didn't brain-drain and flourish on the facebook platform, which is a much more interactive and dynamic.

I am not an active Facebook user, but I sort of agree with you.

Don't worry. Our new president is a technofreak. I am optimistic that there is going to be something different this year.