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Value Migration

PRESENTATION

The Migration Policy Group, in partnership with the Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration (SVR), looked at the appropriateness of instruments for retaining students in different EU Member States, against a backdrop of global competition for talent.

By surveying international students in the final stages of their studies from a number of universities in each of five EU Member States (United Kingdom, France, Sweden, Germany and the Netherlands), the project comparatively analysed:

  • The propensity for graduates to stay in the country of graduation
  • The reasons they intend to stay (or leave)
  • The relevance, awareness and appreciation of EU Member State regulations to encourage retention
Collaboration

The Migration Policy Group contributed migration and integration data, expertise on EU developments, and led the dissemination of results. It also organised a workshop to present the results in Brussels. The Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration (SVR) researched and compiled the country reports, developed and supervised the survey, led the data analysis phase and produced the final German and English reports. The Migration Policy Group and SVR took joint responsibility in recruiting universities as well as academic and public partners. The study was funded by the Mercator Foundation.

Report

The project led to a comparative report showing the impact of legal rules for retention of graduates on competitiveness. The report aimed to shed light on the popularity and appreciation of national rules to retain graduates and appraise the attractiveness and competitiveness of different countries for international graduates and academics.

Background

Current immigration policy aims to screen for economically beneficial migrants and international students are increasingly a target. It is often assumed that they are able to easily adapt to new environments, providing economic benefits both during (fees) and after (work and tax) their studies. Their education levels mean a relatively lower level of exposure to unemployment and welfare dependency, and a higher likelihood that they will become net contributors to the local economy. International graduates are therefore attractive migrants for EU member states that need to draw greater numbers of highly skilled migrants – not least because of the rapid demographic transformation.


LATEST PRODUCTS


Value Migration WORK IN USE

Der Spiegel refers to Value Migration project

spiegelonline_logoDer Spiegel, the leading German news magazine, refers to the Value Migration project and its Mobile Talent publication to relate the fact that Germany fails to retain highly-qualified international students upon completion of their studies:

Deutschland scheitert daran, internationale Absolventen als Fachkräfte im Land zu halten, belegt eine neue Studie. Die Autoren kritisieren: Mindestens drei von vier ausländischen Hochqualifizierten wollen nach dem Studium gerne bleiben, wissen aber oft nicht wie.

Read the article in full here (in German).

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Value Migration WORK IN CONTEXT

The European Commission proposes new rules for non-EU students and researchers

t2-26-Mobile TalentOn 25 March, the European Commission released its recast for the Directive on non-EU students and researchers.

The new legislation aims at setting clearer time limits for national authorities to decide on applications, provide for more opportunities to access the labour market during their stays and facilitate intra-EU mobility.

Read our Mobile Talent report and see why it’s one thing to attract foreign students, but another thing to retain their talent.

EVENTS

Are you looking for past news and events related to the Value Migration project?

News and events prior to 2012 are available in our archive.

In Partnership with:

  • Expert Council of German Foundations on Integration and Migration (SVR)