 Ukraine's Brain Drain By Volodymyr SENCHENKO |
There is probably not a single developing country in the world that is not faced with the problem of a brain drain. The complaints of these states are easy to understand, as the education and preparation of one qualified scientists is rather expensive. According to world standards, it costs about $20,000.
However, this is not a merely economic loss. The country loses its intellectual potential, which can be regarded as a threat to the future. The mass media of those countries anxiously report about the inevitability of this threat. Ukrainian journalists express similar concerns
Today, about 3,000 Ukrainian trained scientists are working abroad. Almost half have advanced degrees. The loss to Ukraine caused by the brain drain has been estimated at 20 billion dollars. Naturally, developed countries think see advantage in acquiring the talents of these "ready-made" specialists in meeting their demands. The German government has launched a Green Card program to host 100 thousand foreign specialists (computer specialists in particular) annually. The United States and Canada have similar programs. As a result, more than five thousand programmers leave Ukraine each year.
The scientists who go abroad are often accused being unpatriotic while the host countries are accused of " stealing" talent.
One should analyze the brain drain more carefully. This problem does exist and it is impossible to stop it with patriotic slogans or by creating administrative obstacles. Ukraine inherited about 1400 research facilities (institutes, laboratories, construction bureaus, centers of various kinds) after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The facilities employed around 150 thousand people. All of these highly trained people were working on projects numbering in the hundreds, many of which were mainly military. As a rule, one military project was divided among groups of scientists who often worked in different places. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the ending of the Cold War made thousands of these scientists unemployed - without money or chance for further self-development.
The absence of prospects is a most tragic thing for a serious scientist. It should not seem strange that more than 90 thousand specialists with advanced education have left Ukraine. No one has any moral right to blame them for their "escape".
Ukraine is not capable of keeping these scholars home as young pensioners. The country cannot transform institutes and laboratories into departments of social aid. Scientists themselves would never agree to such a shameful fate.
Some of the scientists who had been developing military technology during Soviet times have taken part in different programs sponsored by foreign organizations to change the nature of their production. This gave them a chance to work and to have a more or less decent standard of living. The world community benefited in that these scientists were not tempted to continue their careers by working for some less than reliable countries in their military programs. Still, this group of re-qualified scholars is relatively small.
Others had to seek their own fortunes. It is not surprising that many of them in their unemployed status and having relevant qualifications (language fluency, proper age, and a demand for their profession) began to search for the "promised land" in western countries and Russia.
Recently about seven thousand of these scientists left Ukraine to apply their knowledge and talents abroad. Approximately three thousand remain outside Ukraine. Many of them are settled forever.
The most accurate depiction of the magnitude of the brain drain would be one that reflected the number of those specialists that decided to stay in the host countries. No data is available about the scientists who are temporarily working abroad. Scientists are a very peculiar category of specialists. Many of them frequently move from place to place in search of favorable conditions for creative work, a key concern for all serious scientists. The very nature of research employment requires travel from project to project. Scientists from Ukraine and other countries of the world are always searching for relevant, stimulating work. Traveling is a normal process for scientists as they can share their intellectual skills, knowledge, experience, and discoveries.
The appeal of the developed countries - the leaders in research - to scientists is understandable. Those counties invest huge sums of money in science: Germany spends approximately 2.2% of its NGP; the United States 2.5%. Ukraine spends only 0.30%. This money is not enough to pay adequate salaries, and little is spent for improvement of the research facilities and equipment without which scientists require in order to fulfill their creative ambitions.
If there were fewer scientific branches, this money might prove close to adequate. However, Ukraine inherited a huge network of institutions and so has many of them that must share budget funds to pay for facility maintenance and staff. The division of money is usually shared according to the idiom "each sister gets an ear-ring" which can be defined as "each party gets an equal share irrespective of circumstances". Otherwise, the specialists from branches for which there is no demand would remain without any money at all. Presently in Ukraine, culturally and politically it is not feasible to consider a reordering of priorities based on merit and need.
Russia, which has great scientific potential, and other post-Soviet states have similar situations. According to foreign and local sources, at least 150 thousand scholars have abandoned the Russia. Understanding this, Ukraine's loss can be put in better perspective.
Ukraine needed time to restructure its system of research, to set its priorities and to move in more productive directions. Ukrainian science succeeded in this task. It survived despite its huge losses. Many scientists left research, some changed their profession, and some went abroad. Also, many of them launched their own private businesses. A few of them of them retired. Those who started businesses cannot be regarded as lost scientists because many managed to apply their new discoveries in the production of modern equipment, various devices, preparations, and technologies. Most branches of Ukrainian economy already have a number of scientific discoveries in their disposal and very soon the latter will be used and known all over the world. Hundreds and thousands of unknown discoveries of the highest scientific level will one day find their way into the market environment. Presently many are little known because Ukrainian inventors do not have sufficient money to patent their inventions. The number of patents produced by Ukrainians, however, overall has catastrophically decreased.
Of late, working conditions for Ukrainian scientists has been improving. This has occurred due to the accumulation of resources in branches of the highest priority. Moreover, the financing of science has been increased to 1.7% of NGP. Ukraine has a range of scientific schools of thought in mathematics, electric welding, genetic engineering , and in space technologies.
Many high priority research and construction programs have been developed and approved in Ukraine. A comparative analysis with the programs of the advanced research centers of the world I believe would reveal that the level of Ukrainian research is as high as that of most developed countries and that Ukraine still remains a great producer of new technology. For example, read about Ukraine's e program of the space research for years 2003-2007. Look at and consider the list of the programs, plans and the projected budget. Moreover, Ukraine is included in a group of five countries most advanced and productive in this sphere. In Europe, there are only two countries that can set tasks on a scale comparable to Ukraine- Russia and France. Ukraine has produced six Nobel Prize laureates. However, each developed their talent abroad, mostly in the States. There is nothing for Ukrainians to be shameful for in this fact, as science is the sphere of international interaction in which all achievements may be regarded as the achievements of the whole of mankind.
I must also emphasize that many scientists-immigrants return home as soon as favorable conditions for work and life appear. Today, many specialists from China, India, and Brazil are coming back to their countries. I believe most Ukrainian scientists love their land, so I think one can assume that one day most of them will return. Ukrainian research centers have changed with market conditions. They have begun earning money (up to as much as 90% of their needs and in assisting productive, profitable companies.
Although Ukrainian science is still trying to overcome crisis, one can confidently say that Ukraine's scientific efforts have not been and will not be destroyed. Since the year 2002 there has been a noticeable increase in the number of young specialists. The reason for this is that there has been a permanent increase in the number of university students studying in scientific fields. Today there are two times more students (about 2.5 million people) than there used to be studying during Soviet times. Slowly but surely the prestige of being a scientist is reviving in Ukrainian society.
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Read also previous issue' articles:
The Herodotus of Ukrainian History
Ukrainians Want A Country That Respects Them
Chauvinistic Smoke A Few Words on Russia
A walk on the underside
Re-inventing Production: Military Giants Discover Consumer Goods
From Cossack to Sumo
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