Looking beyond the Obvious: Power, Epistemic Culture and Student Migration in the Knowledge-Based Economy

Abstract

The emergence of the knowledge-based economy revived the brain drain debate of the 1970s, calling for the recruitment of scientists and researchers in the interest of national development. International students find themselves in the middle of this debate, as developing countries struggle to address the growing number of those choosing not to return home after graduation. While most researchers explain student migration in terms of economic opportunity and incentives, this article argues that this approach ignores the epistemic culture of graduate training and the differential power of academic institutions in developed and developing nations. Based on a sample of Filipino PhD students in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) fields, this article shows how international students internalize research practices and values that encourage them to remain in the USA. I also discuss how these values contradict the research culture within developing countries, making it difficult for students to imagine continuing their work if they returned home. Consequently, this article challenges how the brain drain narrative describes knowledge as an intellectual product, easily transferred across national borders. Rather, the article emphasizes the need to recognize knowledge as a process of production, where shared norms define how new scholars are expected to contribute to their fields.