I work in one of the most international fields that there is (academia). The standards defining good research (and teaching) are basically the same around the world, and it is thus very common for academics to live and work in several countries during their career.
One issue has always been brain drain: up until maybe a decade ago, we were losing many of our top researchers to the United States (and to a lesser extent, the UK, with smaller numbers to Hong Kong, Singapore, China, France, Germany, etc.).
Tables have turned dramatically. The number of (extremely) high quality applicants we see applying for positions here in Canada has risen at least 10-fold. Trump and all the worst aspects of America that he represents has made the USA much less attractive for newly minted Canadian PhDs, whereas Canada, relatively speaking, is looking much more attractive to Canadian (wanting to return to Canadian) and non-Canadian scholars currently working in the United States, as well as to many Australian-based scholars (hit with the double whammy of an anti-intellectual government that has slashed spending on tertiary education, compounded by the huge reliance on Chinese students for funding, for which the ability to charge premium tuition rates has largely evaporated due to Covid), and European-based scholars (especially in the UK, which has also seen massive budget cuts, precarious funding models in about 30% of the universities, and a dramatic drop in foreign students). Canadian universities have seen budgets slashed (big time here in Ontario), but not to the same extent as the USA, Australia, UK and many European countries (of which many deliver education primarily in English now). Asia used to look quite attractive given the massive research grants offered to up-and-coming academic stars, but that has withered due to travel restrictions (covid again) and the more belligerent tone adopted by China (with knock-on effects on Hong Kong universities). China aggressively pursued Western scholars, but many are now looking for a bolthole.
Last edited by MolsonExport; Sep 3, 2020 at 7:37 PM.
|