The Outflow And Loss Of Cameroonian Students For Studies Abroad: Policies,Current Situation And Trend

Globalisation and internationalisation have given an unprecedented boost to international student mobility(ISM)across the world in recent years.The last two decades were particularly remarkable for tremendous growth of mobile students.Its impact on both countries of origin and destination remains a controversial debate among scholars and experts.However,it is worth noting that whether student mobility can be considered as a gain for home countries or not,its benefit varies from one country to another.The experience shows that many sending countries,especially African countries,including Cameroon,are not turning it into an advantage,yet it causes lots of shortage in many sectors.As an attempt to address the issue,this dissertation explored Cameroon's policies,current situation,and trend of outflow of Cameroonian students for studies abroad.It is a diagnosis of the situation in order to provide policy suggestions for improvement.The study employed a mixed-method,in which qualitative and quantitative approaches were combined so as to clear up the different research questions.The use of a mixedmethod in this investigation was informed by the existence of both quantitative and qualitative data,judged essential to be collected in response to the study objectives.A sequential exploratory strategy of mixed-method was estimated suitable to handle the topic.The qualitative method dealt with policy document analysis and 25 in-depth selective interviews,while the quantitative addressed a cross-sectional investigation using a questionnaire as an instrument for collecting statistical information.The survey includes202 Cameroonian international students from 90 HEIs across China.The results of the study revealed that there is almost no special policy put in place in Cameroon with regard to the benefit to be drawn from the mobility of Cameroonian students across the world.Consequently,its contribution to the country's development in terms of science and technology transfer remains unclear.This is also partly due to the country's gloomy and undefined economic plan and the socio-political crises,in recent years,that have not favoured the country's business climate.Recommendations,although based on the study's findings on Cameroon,involved some experiences from other case study countries included in this study,namely China,Singapore,and Ghana that have somehow made some progress on the issue in terms of policy initiatives to curb the brain drain and to transfer science and technology.The recommendations suggest that the public authorities should take into account and integrate into their development strategies the challenge of student mobility which has so far not benefited the country.For instance,in line with the country's objectives to achieve a high middle-income country by 2035,the transfer of knowledge and skills should be one of the focal points of the strategies.Moreover,it is strongly advised to Cameroon to build regional or continental top-class higher education institutions.The successful experience of Singapore and China are at utmost lessons to curb the brain drain in this regard.Singapore hosts world-class universities by just inviting partners to build world-class branch campuses in Singapore in line with its national development agenda.Building world-class or regional top-class universities is a comprehensive strategy in retaining nationals at home,returning nationals from abroad,and recruiting international students that will significantly contribute to the country's income.