A detailed review of the education sector in Australia as in the data provided by the 2006 edition of the OECD's annual publication, 'Education at a Glance' is presented. While the data has shown that in almost all OECD countries educational attainment levels are on the rise, with countries showing impressive gains in university qualifications, it also reveals that a large of share of young people still do not complete secondary school, which remains a baseline for successful entry into the labour market.

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Education at a Glance

In the twenty-first century,growth, economic value and competitive differentiation of cities will increasingly be derived from people and their skills, creativity and knowledge, as well as the capacity of the economy to create and absorb innovation. To compete in this new economic environment, cities will need to better apply advanced information technology, analytics and systems thinking to develop a more citizen-centric approach to services. By doing so, they can better attract, create, enable and retain their citizens’ skills, knowledge and creativity.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/SSRN_ID2001907_code343214.pdf?abstractid=2001907

Smarter Cities for Smarter Growth: How Cities Can Optimize Their Systems for the Talent-Based Economy

The India Migration Bibliography covers over 3,000 books, research articles and reports written on the subject of internal migration, international migration and diaspora, related to India. The bibliography is inter-disciplinary and provides sections with selected publications by themes, regions, cities, overseas destinations and sample surveys. It will be of considerable interest to academics and non-academics working on migration related issues.

India Migration Bibliography

In the context of increasing academic interest in the internationalization of education and the international mobility of university students, this article draws on findings of a recent research project examining students from the UK as they seek higher education overseas before entering the labour market. The discussion is framed around four key themes (the importance of `second chances'; `global circuits of higher education'; `experiences of travel' and `labour market outcomes'), which address the motivations and experiences of 85 individuals who are seriously considering or have recently obtained an international degree.

International Higher Education and the Mobility of UK Students. End-of-award report to the British Academy

High-skilled immigration (HSI) policies, and their harmonisation across member states, have been an important part of the EU's Lisbon strategy focusing on the knowledge-based economy, and the subsequent ‘Europe 2020’ which emphasises economic recovery. Intra-EU mobility of high-skilled workers is quite low, and member states have targeted high-skilled third-country nationals (TCNs), both through national policies and the EU's recent Blue Card scheme. However, the Blue Card Directive (adopted in 2009, transposed by June 2011), despite its scope for Unionised regulation, allows member states to decide how many high-skilled TCNs they want to admit, if any. The article argues that tensions between openness and closure to migration exist at both member state and EU level. These tensions are resolved through considerable diversity in the conditions and rights accorded to Blue Card holders across member states. Drawing on new empirical data, the article analyses first results of the transposition of the Blue Car...

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Understanding the diversity of EU migration policy in practice: the implementation of the Blue Card initiative

Faced with a situation in which countries compete for international students, it becomes especially important to understand students’ preferences regarding migration behaviour. This paper looks at the determinants of international mobility intentions in the specific situation of Indian students in sciences and engineering. It uses the collected data from the survey held among students at five Indian universities and complements it with qualitative data from interviews. We looked at the role of students’ personal and family background, university-related factors, their social network and preferences for living location in their motivations for moving abroad. The type of university and field of studies work as strong predictors for students’ desired move abroad. Whether a student plans a career in academia or wants to work in a company has a decisive influence on where they see themselves in the near future. Professional aspects are confirmed to be the most prominent in the decision-making regarding international mobility. People who place high importance on work-related factors are more mobile, while people who place higher importance on family-friendly environment and public safety prefer staying in India. International student mobility is obviously a family decision. Parents’ support is crucial for moving abroad, in moral as well as in financial terms. Normally, obligations towards family are put in the first place ahead of potential individual initiatives.

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Motivations and Constraints of Moving Abroad for Indian Students

This special issue offers an opportunity to delve into the construction of migrant categories through policy design and policy implementation. It proposes to widen the focus beyond immigration authorities in order to include actors that are in one or another way involved in the process of selecting, supporting or employing highly skilled workers and therefore also contributing to their definition. The aim of the special issue is to bring to the surface the indistinct objectives of immigration policies, and to analyse the interplay between policies, discourses and practices. More precisely, we discuss the argument that the definition of highly skilled migrants depends more on how potential migrants are viewed by interest groups than on migrants’ characteristics.

/pdf/highly-skilled-or-highly-wanted-migrants-conceptualizations-dcto5kbs56.pdf

Highly Skilled or Highly Wanted Migrants? Conceptualizations, Policy Designs and Implementations of High-skilled Migration Policies

This article problematizes the concept of highly skilled migrants through an analysis of policy documents and interviews with key informants involved in the admission process in Switzerland. Current political discourse classifies foreigners differently according to their country of origin and skill level. Existing legislation prioritizes immigrants from the European Economic Area and is very restrictive towards third-country nationals. By examining the implementation of the admission policy for labour migration, this article evaluates which criteria matter most to state authorities when determining if someone is a desirable immigrant. Despite its stress on qualifications and economic interest, the admission process for third-country workers was also found to fulfil non-economic objectives such as providing the impression of state control over immigration and of state protection of local populations from migrants. Building on this observation, the article argues that more in-depth studies are required to better understand how states reconcile the different objectives of immigration governance in practice.

/pdf/selecting-the-highly-skilled-norms-and-practices-of-the-8udpfgu81s.pdf

Selecting the highly skilled: norms and practices of the Swiss admission system for non-EU immigrants

The role of the state, with regard to immigration policies in particular, is still largely seen as having an effect on international migration flows through controls and selective admittance of migrants that satisfy policy-defined targets. However, highly-skilled migrants may choose among many different locations; hence, states may need to alter their view of migration of the highly-skilled, considering the individual as the selector rather than the selected. This article acknowledges this newly emerging perspective and considers skilled migration as a supply-side problem where the role of the state is seen as one about attracting potential migrants. Different theories on determinants of migration are observed from the position of a highly-skilled individual. Following up on the overview of theories, we draw a list of qualities that are relevant for the decision-making process of a highly skilled migrant. This analysis is followed by a country-specific assessment of the Netherlands concerning its position in the competition for internationally-mobile human capital. The elements of the immigration policy and other relevant country-specific factors are observed from the perspective of incentives or disincentives to immigrate.

Metka Hercog

Papers

Motivations and Constraints of Moving Abroad for Indian Students

Highly Skilled or Highly Wanted Migrants? Conceptualizations, Policy Designs and Implementations of High-skilled Migration Policies

Selecting the highly skilled: norms and practices of the Swiss admission system for non-EU immigrants

The Role of the State in Attracting Highly-skilled Migrants: The Case of the Netherlands

Making Europe More Attractive to Indian Highly-skilled Migrants? The blue card directive and national law in Germany and the Netherlands