Mexico is the main ejector of highly qualified students and workers in Latin America; the last official data is from 2015 and shows that over 1.2 million qualified Mexicans live abroad. Around 900 thousand of them have a university degree, and about 300 thousand have postgraduate degrees.

According to a document of the Scientific and Technological Information Office for the Union Congress (INCyTU), of the Scientific and Technological Consultive Forum, which will soon be published by Excélsior, the brain drain is a phenomenon that has grown seven times in the past 25 years.

The information given shows that, while in 1990 there were 161,196 highly qualified Mexicans living abroad, the number grew to 446,852 in 2000; to 896,001 in 2010, and to 1,203,573 in 2015.

The report was developed by a group of researchers of the Consultive Forum with the support of Tonatiuh Anzures, a young PhD graduate of the University College London who studies highly qualified migration. It points out the need having more information about these migrants, to know where they are, what they do, where they live, what they have achieved, and what they can do for Mexico.

“Currently, Mexico is the main exporter of highly qualified students and workers in Latin America. Therefore, it is key to understand the main factors that enable brain drain in our country and, learn about the experiences and career paths of our brains. These two elements may guide better oriented public policy decisions, and a medium and long term perspective”, points out the report.

The United States is among the countries that receive the largest number of highly qualified Mexicans, as 84% of Mexican migrants who have a university degree, and 82% with post graduate studies, move to that country.

José Franco, coordinator of the Scientific and Technological Consultive Forum, explained that the problem with Mexican talent migration has the same causes than workers’ migration. In other words, lack of employment and of proper working conditions. He added that these causes are linked to a very modest budget for science, technology and innovation.

“In other countries, particularly among the leading countries in the world, there are a number of private institutions, businesses, entire productive sectors that are hiring people with masters and doctoral degrees. In fact, most people who graduate from university, either get a job in the productive sector where their skills are required, or start their own business. This does not happen in Mexico, and forces a large share of very talented youngsters to move abroad”, he said.

“In addition, the costs are extremely high, as most of these youngsters are educated in Mexico, from school to their PhD. This costs a lot of money and Mexico does not get to capitalize such an investment”, he claimed. On a global level, by 2010 around 28 million highly qualified migrants lived in OECD countries. This means a 130% increase when compared to 1990. As regards non-qualified immigration, it only grew 40% during that period of time.