Erasmus Mundus: Higher Education in Europe and the Dilemma of Brain Drain and Brain Gain in Africa

EMA-African Chapter’s Maiden Thematic Conference Dubbed: “Erasmus Mundus: Higher Education in Europe and the Dilemma of Brain Drain and Brain Gain in Africa” came off in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on November 21, 2009.

In its bid to contribute to the discourse on brain drain in Africa and the Erasmus Mundus Programme as well as further promote Erasmus Mundus as a program of excellence in Africa and to increase the participation of African Erasmus Mundus students and Alumni in the activities of the EMA, the EMA-African Chapter organized a one-day conference in Addis Ababa on the theme: Erasmus Mundus: Higher Education in Europe and the Dilemma of Brain Drain and Brain Gain in Africa featuring Erasmus Mundus alumni and students from across African regions and Europe as well as seasoned speakers and professionals on issues of migration and brain drain in Africa.


The conference opened with a presentation by Prof. Atieno Ndede-Amadi, the Vice Chairperson of Kenya Diaspora Association (KDA) on the topic “International Higher Education and Africa’s Development: The Dilemma of Brain Drain in Africa (African Perspective)”.

Dr. Katarzyna Hadás of Adam Mickiewicz University, Poland then presented the European perspective of issues on higher Education in Europe and the Dilemma of Brain Drain in Africa with her presentation on “Attracting international students to Europe vs the brain drain/ gain issue in Africa”. From the data and video presentation of a sample of Erasmus Mundus Alumni from Ghana, it came out clearly that the Erasmus Mundus Program has contributed to „brain gain” in Africa.

That was followed by a presentation by Bruk Asmellash of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on “International Migration For Higher Education: Current Trends in Africa”. This was succeeded by presentation by Ignaty Dyakov of University College, London (UCL) who on his part took the conference participants through “Higher Education in Africa: Experience of Brain Drain and Brain Gain in Ethiopia”.

African Erasmus Mundus alumni also shared their experiences and progress made in their careers after their respective Erasmus Mundus Courses focusing on the gains from the studies in Europe.

The EMA-African Chapter made a presentation of the findings of its survey carried out among students and alumni from Africa who are beneficiaries of the Erasmus Mundus programme. The survey revealed that most of the Erasmus Mundus Alumni and students from Africa returned to Africa to work or intend to return to Africa. This preliminary survey results also shows that Eramus Mundus Programme has not contributed to Brain Drain in Africa, rather it has contributed immensely to brain gain.

The conference ended with a discussion session where participants came up with suggestions for the management of the Erasmus Mundus Programme and brain drain in Africa. Participants mainly noted that it was high time stakeholders do away with the “Brain Drain” and “Brain Gain” tag as the movement of professionals and students between the continents can not be terminated in this era of ‘Global Village’. African and European stakeholders are thus encouraged to see the situation more as a ‘Skill Flow’ or ‘Brain Circulation’ which is beneficial to all parties and needs to be managed to ensure equal benefit for both continents.

Among others, the participants also pointed out the need to have mobility between African universities as a way of encouraging brain circulation and fighting Brain Drain, the need to develop a pan-African co-operation that will lead to a culture of sharing and learning from one another and the need to have competitive salaries in Africa as a way of retaining and attracting African professionals and scholars. The conference ended with a traditional Ethiopian dinner at the Habesha restaurant in the center of Addis Ababa.

The EMA-African Chapter Conference team expresses its appreciation to all individuals who contributed in diverse ways to make the conference a success especialy, Natalia (ICUnet), all the distinguished Speakers, Students and Alumni from Ethiopia, Ricardo Chavez (EMA Vice President), Karen Basiye (Kenya), Tsigereda Asfaw (Ethiopia), James Nyomakwa-Obimpeh (Ghana) and Qasim Babantunde (Nigeria) and indeed to all participants, we say "Bravo"!

EMA-African Chapter Team