Abstract

SIEGLIN, Veronika  and  ZUNIGA, María. "Brain drain" in Mexico: A case study about the job prospects and disposition to migration for Engineering and Natural Sciences students. Perfiles educativos [online]. 2010, vol.32, n.128, pp.55-79. ISSN 0185-2698.

Because of the internationalization of higher education the number of Mexican students who study one or two terms in foreign universities has increased in the last years. During those stays they receive access to high technology and get familiarized with advanced research and with the job opportunities offered by this technology. This experience achieves for those students an in-depth critical analysis of their future professional development in Mexico and generates in them the wish to move abroad after finishing higher education. This study shows that the wish to move is tightly connected to the objective features shown by the quality of education in their higher education institution of origin: the characteristics of the academic staff, the research infrastructure available for researchers and students; and the general working conditions and the expectations of incomes as future professionals in Mexico. The data were gathered by means of a survey amongst 78 undergraduate students in natural sciences and engineering at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (Autonomous University of Nuevo León).

Keywords : Higher education; Internationalization; Student mobility; Premigrating socialization; Academic gap.