The Research On The International Flow Of Human Capital Following The International Trade In Higher Education

It has been a long time that some students choose to study abroad. But people were prone to emphasize the cultural and political values of this phenomenon. In nineteen eighties, studying abroad gradually developed into a kind of international trade. The reason for the transition was that some developed countries did not offer developing countries the educational aid. On the contrary, they began to charge large amounts of tuition fees from foreign students. Because of the declining of transportation costs as well as the rapid development of information communication technology, other kinds of international trade in higher education such as distance education and branch campuses emerge. In spite of this, sending/receiving international students is still the most important kind of international trade in higher education, and it contributes the largest part to the whole. Most importantly, sending/receiving foreign students is the only trade mode that closely relates to the international flow of human capital. Therefore, this thesis intends to study the above problem by selecting the flow of international students as the target.As we all know, the countries participating in international trade do not get the same amounts of benefits, because their positions and the power they hold in this area are unequal. There is no exception with international trade in higher education, which has made fundamental impacts on the international flow of human capital. By reviewing the relevant articles, we can find that many researchers have recognized this phenomenon. But they just give some description on it, based on the status quo and some incomplete data, which cannot make this phenomenon completely understood. To compensate the above flaw, the author adopts a wholly new methodology—Social Network Analysis. This theory becomes increasingly mature during the latest twenty years, which aims to find the reasoning behind some problems by examining the relations among actors. And many researchers from several disciplines have applied it to their researches. The author collects the data on the flow of international students, which contains the number of students sent and received by every single country. With the help of NodeXL, a professional software applied in social network analysis, the author get the results of three social network analysis measures, which manifest the unequal positions of different country clusters in international students exchange network. It is obvious that developed countries occupy the core position, they are able to control the flow of international students; in comparison, most developing countries stay at semi-periphery or even periphery.The inequality in international trade in higher education not only means that there are great differentials of gains, but also that amounts of human capital flow from developing countries to developed countries. Many students who study at developed countries are from developing countries. After acquiring the degree, most of them prefer to work for a while or locate in the destination countries permanently. Therefore, most developed countries can take advantage of the human capital owned by these international students to drive their development. On the contrary, the developing countries suffer the human capital loss deriving from the emigration students, which is harmful to the long-term development of these countries.Human capital can mean a lot to the development of a country, which is considered as a kind of strong and lasting energy. All in all, developing countries must take some bold steps to accumulate as much human capital as possible when they are participating international trade in higher education. On one hand, by strengthening their competitiveness at this market, developing countries can not only reduce the outflow of their excellent students to some extent, but also attract the students from other countries. On the other hand, developing countries should create a favorable environment such as offer more career developing opportunities and raise the salary level, in order to attract their students abroad, and persuade the students from other countries into staying for a while. Only by taking these measures can developing countries make use of as much human capital as possible.