Game of Brains: Examining Researcher Brain Gain and Brain Drain and Research University Policy

in Higher Education Policy (2023), 36

We leverage a rich bibliometric dataset on Taiwanese academia to explore scientific migration patterns. We investigate the movement and productivity of 21,051 highly active researchers who served in ... [more ▼]

We leverage a rich bibliometric dataset on Taiwanese academia to explore scientific migration patterns. We investigate the movement and productivity of 21,051 highly active researchers who served in Taiwanese higher education institutions based on 30 years’ worth of publication and affiliation records from 1991 to 2020. The analysis shows evidence of brain drain in Taiwan since the 2010s, with the U.S. being both the biggest source of inbound researchers to Taiwan and top destination for researchers emigrating from Taiwan. China comes a close second to the U.S. as the top destination for outbound scholars. We also study how Taiwan’s universities recruited talent after the country adopted the 2005 excellence initiative and confirm the converging number of scholars recruited by World Class Universities (WCUs) and non-WCUs as WCUs, surprisingly, exhibit a dramatic decrease in new recruits. Our evidence uncovers that inbound scholars, after their move, are more productive than non-mobile colleagues; however, this effect declines over time. We discuss implications for the study of excellence initiatives and mechanisms of talent circulation that greatly impact research production and research university development. [less ▲]

The OECD and Higher Education Policy: Agenda-Setting, Organizational Dynamics and the Construction of Convening Authority

in Higher Education Policy (2021), 34(3), 582-602

The article examines the engagement of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) with the higher education sector. Detailed empirical case studies probe the ultimate failure to ... [more ▼]

The article examines the engagement of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) with the higher education sector. Detailed empirical case studies probe the ultimate failure to launch of the OECD’s Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO) initiative, as well as the recent demise of the long-established Institutional Management in Higher Education (IMHE) programme and the development of a new initiative on the evaluation of higher education system performance. The analysis is informed by a theoretical framework drawn from the wider international organization literature, focusing on internal organizational dynamics and the manner in which international organizations seek to construct their external authority. A complex portrait of the OECD as a policy actor correspondingly emerges, focused on agenda-setting within the organization in terms which highlight the interplay of organizational, governmental and stakeholder interests. This is further suggestive of a broader research agenda exploring emerging international-level policy processes in higher education. [less ▲]

Taking Their Place: Educational Expansion and Inequality of Educational Opportunities—A Gendered Perspective

in Higher Education Policy (2018)

Educational expansion and gender differences in educational attainment have both been studied in various contexts, but their interdependence has rarely been examined, and even then, yielded conflicting ... [more ▼]

Educational expansion and gender differences in educational attainment have both been studied in various contexts, but their interdependence has rarely been examined, and even then, yielded conflicting results. We focus on the expansion of tertiary education in Israel resulting from several reforms introduced in the mid-1990s and ask two questions: (a) How did educational expansion affect inequality of opportunity (IEO)? (b) Did the effect of educational expansion differ between men and women? Based on the Israeli census, we examine changes in IEO between 1995 and 2008 across all levels of education. We find that women from lower socioeconomic background were the main beneficiaries of the expansion, especially at the MA+ level. Several explanations for these findings are discussed. [less ▲]