Use industry partnerships to stop brain drain, universities told

Universities in the Arab world have been urged to “get off their high horses” and be prepared to engage with industry and government if they want to prevent brain drain.

Speaking on a panel at the Times Higher Education Arab Summit in Morocco, Ahmad Hamdan, president of Al-Ahliyya Amman University in Jordan, told delegates that universities need to be prepared to work hard to establish relationships with industry partners to create job opportunities for graduates.

The Middle East and North Africa has a well-documented brain drain problem among its graduates, costing countries in the region an estimated $2 billion (£1.5 billion) annually as a result of the loss of talent.

“Universities have to get off their high horses and ivory towers…they need to go into industry and government. They need to approach them. They’re not going to be interested in what you have to sell, unless you have something to offer.”

Hamdan said this could be done through establishing partnerships that allow students to do placements, and in return industry figures can be brought in to the university to teach, help in labs or conduct practical training.

“We’re talking about trust, we’re talking about a win-win situation between universities and industry that begins to develop. You begin to find common ground.”

Hamdan outlined that his university had built relationships with Samsung and the Water Authority of Jordan through such schemes. 

The latter partnership saw the university conduct research to tackle water supply challenges, with the authority agreeing to train students through internships. A significant number of students who took part in the scheme went on to jobs at the firm after they graduated.

Youssef Belmabkhout, director of the Applied Chemistry and Engineering Research Centre of Excellence at the University Mohammed VI Polytechnic, said one of the “biggest misunderstandings” Arab world institutions hold about why they face challenges in retaining and attracting local talent is that “salaries, infrastructure or labs are enough” to attract researchers. 

Instead, universities have to ask: “Do we have really good conditions for them to grow, so they can really develop their career in-house in their countries?”

Hamdan agreed, adding that, as academics, “We know our unique breed of people; money doesn’t drive us”, saying instead that they are driven by “ethics” and the gratification of teaching and learning.

“If we can show this to our young researchers and graduates that you can do this and show them that this is something that is important, that it’s important to do in your own country where the impact is greater than doing it somewhere else, I think this goes a long way,” he said.

“The other issue is that you need to create a sense of belonging for them in the academic environment, and let them know that they’re going to be the future leaders of the academic institution.”

As an example, Hamdan – who trained in dentistry – said that the university had recently opened a new dental school. He said that they had hired a number of “young academics” and told them: “You are going to be running this school, I am not going to be here.”

“So off the bat, they have been appointed as heads of department, etc. I’ve given them responsibility, and by having them as part of the conversation and part of the decision-making process, even this early on, it means they engage, and I hope they will stay.”

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com