In this article, the author examines the problems of student migration from India and, as a result,"brain drain". On the one hand, the current situation has a negative impact on the country's socio-economic development, as India can consolidate its status as a "catch-up" in the era of the global knowledge economy. On the other hand, there is evidence that brain drain is gradually transforming into brain circulation, which in the long run can contribute to the country's sustainable development. Current trends in Indian migration can be described in terms of reverse migration, strengthening the role of the Indian diaspora, and establishing cooperation and partnerships between Indian and foreign universities in the academic and research fields.

Keywords: Indian student migration, "brain drain", "circulation of minds", reverse migration, money transfers, higher education system.

In the second half of the 20th century, the development of globalization led to an increase in student mobility and its expansion beyond national borders. According to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, in 2010 the number of students studying abroad reached 3.6 million (for comparison, in 2000 this figure was 2 million) [Modern Migrants..., 2012].

The increase in the number of students traveling abroad is due to three factors. The first factor is related to the growing number of young people with secondary education who want to get a higher education. The second factor is the relative improvement in living standards in many developing countries, which means that parents can afford the cost of education for their children. The third factor of student mobility growth is determined by the globalization of higher education, which is implemented, for example, through the creation of foreign branches of Western universities in developing countries or through the promotion of student mobility within integrated markets (within the European Union or between countries in the Asia-Pacific region) [International Migration in a Globalizing World, 2011, p. 6].

China and India are in the first place among the countries importing educational services. This is followed by the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Indonesia [Marginson, 2012, p.498]. The increase in the number of students from Asia is due to rapid economic growth, the growing number of middle-class people who want to get higher education, limited domestic opportunities in the field of national higher education, and prospects for obtaining qualifications in prestigious universities in Europe, the United States, Australia, and Canada [Kell and Vogl, 2010, p. 3].

The latest data from the Institute of International Education (USA) indicate that in 2011/12, the leading countries of origin of foreign students studying in the United States were:-

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In the United States, there were China (194,029 people) and India (100,270 people) [International Students..., 2012].

According to the conventional wisdom, the international migration of talented students from less developed countries, the so-called brain drain, threatens the development of the countries of origin of these students. Brain drain means a situation in which a significant part of qualified personnel migrates for a long time, and their migration is not compensated by reverse money transfers, technology transfers, investments or trade [Siddiqui, 2012].

In general, the global market for higher education services is characterized by asymmetric and uneven flows of students, i.e. some countries are mainly exporters, while others are importers of educational services. In other words, student mobility is homogeneous and includes flows from developing countries in East, Southeast, and South Asia to English-speaking countries, primarily the United States, Great Britain, and Australia [Marginson, 2004, p.202].

In the long run, advanced economies are actively trying to attract foreign graduate students due to the lack of their own qualified personnel in the industrial sector and the need to maintain competitiveness in the era of globalization [Lasanowski, 2007, p.2].

In this situation, there is a risk for emerging and transition economies to remain "catching up" in the era of the global knowledge economy. As F. points out. Altbach, approximately 80% of Chinese and Indians who have completed academic degrees in the United States over the past half-century have decided to stay in the country [Altbach, 2013].

According to the Institute of International Education, 200.6 thousand students from India studied abroad in 2010. Table 1 shows the geographical distribution of students.
The problem of" brain drain " from India is partly explained by the crisis of the national higher education system. Annually published international rankings of higher education institutions (Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings, Times Higher Education Rankings, Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) by Shanghai Jiao Tong University) indicate a low status of Indian universities [Pushkar, 2013].

The main advantage of India is that one-fifth of its population belongs to the age group from 15 to 24 years. According to a study conducted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCT) and Ernst & Young, India has the largest target audience in the field of higher education (234 million residents belong to the age group from 15 to 24 years) [Private Sector Participation..., 2011, p. 20].

After independence, India saw a rapid increase in the number of universities of national importance. In the early 1950s, Indian companies were introduced.-

Table 1

Top five destination countries and the number of Indian students studying abroad

A country

Number of students

1

USA

103 968

2

Great Britain

38 205

3

Australia

20 429

4

New Zealand

6650

5

Canada

4617

Source: India's Students Overseas..., 2010.

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Chart 1

Potential demand for higher education services, 2011

Источник: Private Sector Participation in Indian Higher Education, 2011, p. 20.

statutes of Technology (IITs), Management (IIMs), Jawaharlal Nehru University, etc.for training qualified personnel in professional and technical fields, as well as achieving national economic and social development goals. However, the expansion of educational infrastructure has subsequently ceased to be a priority for the national Government [Barpanda, 2013].

As F. points out. Altbach, the majority of Indian colleges, which number up to 34 thousand, lack staff and material equipment; two-thirds of them do not meet the minimum standards set by the government; they are not able to implement innovative methods due to the system of subordination that links colleges to the main university. Thus, the higher education system in India is fragmented and difficult to manage. The problem is also that students do not choose specialties that can contribute to India's sustainable economic growth in the long run [Altbach and Agarwal, 2013].

For young Indians, there are four opportunities after graduation. First, if they are extremely diligent and talented, they can choose the college and major they want. However, not many people manage to do this due to high competition. Second, if applicants want to pursue a degree in engineering or medicine, they must successfully pass exams at the best universities in the country, such as the Indian Institutes of Technology. In 2012, more than 500,000 applicants competed for 10,000 places in 15 of these universities. If they fail their exams, young Indians are forced to settle for less prestigious options. Third, students can get higher education in private institutions, most of which are characterized by poor quality of training. The fourth possibility is actually student migration to more developed countries in the West or East (Australia or Singapore) [Pushkar, 2013]. As a result, India continues to lose talented scientists, as well as positions in the international scientific community.

The situation becomes more critical when a significant part of talented students prefer to migrate from India. Institutional bureaucracy, domestic policy failures, and lack of funding are causing dissatisfaction among Indian graduates [Haider, 2008]. The latest data revealed during the Survey of Earned Doctorates ("Review of defended dissertations") showed:,

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That of the 13,744 Indian PhDs who received degrees from US universities between 2005 and 2011, 86.4% chose to stay in the US [Dore, 2013].

One of the indicators of the quality of the national higher education system is the country's share in the global output of scientific publications. According to Thomson Reuters, India's share in 2011 was only 3.4%, while China's share was 11% [Building BRICKS...,, 2013]. In India, there are 119 R & D researchers per 1 million people, in Brazil - about 700, in China - over 1000, in England - more than 4000 [Bound, Thornton, 2012, p. 53].

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), which is one of the best medical universities in India, provides medical care to more than 10,000 Indians every day and lacks 200 qualified doctors, is also experiencing the consequences of the "brain drain" from India [Bhalla, 2012].

However, Indian student migration can also have a positive impact on the future socio-economic development of India. Thanks to information technologies, the trend of "brain drain" can be transformed into valuable capital, taking into account the accumulated experience of Indian migrants. By stimulating information exchange, technology transfer and business expansion, migration can bring new dynamics of development and contribute to the full integration of the country into the global economic system.

India's current status as a dynamically developing country, rising living standards, and accelerated economic growth have made the country an attractive destination for ambitious young professionals who emigrated from India some time ago. This trend is reflected not only in the reverse migration, but also in the fact that graduates of Indian elite universities stay to live and work in their homeland [Chand, 2009, p. 8].

Despite the fact that India still faces many challenges, such as poverty, corruption, weak infrastructure, and excessive bureaucracy, new opportunities are emerging that attract entrepreneurial and scientific potential from all over the world [Why Would You Leave the West..., 2012]. According to a report by Kelly Services in the United States, by 2015, about 300,000 Indian professionals working abroad may return to India [Sinha, 2011].

In order to attract representatives of the Indian diaspora abroad, the Government of India decided to assign a special status of Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI), which, in fact, means having a lifetime Indian visa [The Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs, 2005].

There are the following possible reasons for the reverse migration of Indians (or the reverse "brain drain") [What's Fueling Indians' Reverse Migration, 2011]: stable economic growth in India and more attractive career prospects compared to developed economies; Indian companies provide high wages and opportunities to enter the global level of professional development. Indian Institutes of Technology and Indian Institutes of Management are recognized on a global scale, i.e. they create a relatively high-quality educational environment for the children of those who return from long-term emigration; an emotional connection with India, its unique traditions and culture.

The advantage of technology institutes has always been their ability to attract the best students and train "creative engineers" or"entrepreneurial engineers." Initially, IITs were criticized for their contribution to the problem of "brain drain", as about 40% of graduates went abroad. Currently, the rapid growth of the Indian economy and its openness are transforming the weak side of IITs into an advantage for international cooperation and investment [Salmi, 2009, p. 46]. For example, the city of Bangalore (Karnataka) has acquired its status as a global exporter of information technologies due to the reverse migration of former stu-

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IITs dents. Approximately one-third of the employees employed at General Electric's John Welch Technology Center in Bangalore are first-generation Indian migrants who returned to their homeland from the United States at the beginning of this century [Chacko, 2007, p.136].

The return of skilled labor to India is considered as a factor of increasing national competitiveness due to the direct transfer of knowledge and access of Indian emigrants to international professional and research global networks [Bhandari, 2009, p. 9].

Another mechanism by which India gains long-term benefits from the emigration of its citizens is through money transfers. According to the World Bank, in 2012, the amount of money transfers from representatives of the Indian diaspora abroad amounted to 69.35 billion dollars. This is the highest figure in the world (for comparison: in China - 60.25 billion dollars) [Annual Reminders Data, The World Bank, 2010].

M. Rosenzweig, however, believes that money transfers cannot be considered a means of stimulating national development or improving overall social well-being. According to the scientist, money transfers are used by recipients primarily to maximize private wealth, which does not necessarily affect economic growth in India [Rosenzweig, 2005, p. 12].

One solution to the problem of brain drain from India is to develop constructive cooperation between Indian and Western universities. The establishment of branches of foreign universities in India will provide new opportunities for Indian applicants, including cheaper educational services and no need to spend millions of rupees abroad [Singh, 2012].

In 2010, the draft law "On Foreign Educational Institutions" came into force in India.: regulation of market access and scale of operations " (The foreign educational institutions (regulation of entry and operations) Bill). However, F. Altbach believes that foreign teachers and universities cannot help India in modernizing the national higher education system, because they are unfamiliar with the peculiarities of Indian society and cannot come up with creative ideas [Altbach, 2011]. An alternative to foreign universities is the creation of national universities based on international cooperation [Nichenametla, 2012]. S. Barpanda identifies the following advantages that can be obtained from the appearance of foreign universities in the Indian market [Barpanda, 2013]: partial solution to the problem of "brain drain"; leveling the financial and psychological costs of living abroad; a potential model of high-quality higher education for Indian universities; increasing India's share in the global output of scientific publications; equalizing supply and demand in the Indian educational services market.

* * *

Emigration of Indian students and, as a result, "brain drain" since the second half of the XX century. they are steadily increasing. There are many factors that influence this phenomenon, but the main ones can be reduced to opportunities for rapid career growth, competitive salaries, and access to high-quality research infrastructure.

On a global scale, "brain drain" is gradually transforming into "brain circulation", which implies that there are advantages for both countries of origin and countries that attract talented expats. India is a unique example in this case, as the negative effects of "brain drain" can be partially offset by the presence of a large number of young people, which can be attributed to the demographic dividends of the future

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development of India. In this regard, the Indian Government should first of all address the problem of increasing the number of high-quality national universities, so that Indian students do not feel the need to study abroad. Creating an attractive environment for young professionals requires a sustainable investment climate, adequate income and opportunities for professional growth in the public and private sectors.

Currently, there are the following trends regarding the "brain drain" from India: reverse migration, increased remittances from representatives of the Indian diaspora, cooperation and research links between Indian and foreign institutions. These trends may become more widespread in the future, restoring the balance between " brain drain "and" brain gain".

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