'No talk of brain drain in Germany,' says research minister
German Minister for Education and Research, Edelgard Bulmahn, has insisted that her country is not experiencing brain drain. Speaking in Berlin, the minister reeled off a list of statistics which show that fewer scientists are leaving the country than are arriving, and that most German researchers who do choose to spend time abroad willingly return to their country of birth. 'There can be no talk of brain drain in Germany, with its positive balance sheet on the exchange of scientists,' said Ms Bulmahn. 'Anyone who does not take into account the far-reaching evidence of the excellent scientific climate in Germany is damaging [Germany's] position,' she added. According to the latest statistics from the German Research Community (DFG), 85 per cent of their grant holders return to Germany. Many foreign researchers are also eager to work in Germany, and Ms Bulmahn therefore underlined the urgency of reforming immigration law. For German researchers, the US remains the favourite destination, but while the number of 'foreign scholars' in the US has increased in recent years, the number of Germans studying or carrying out research in the US has fallen. In 1998/1999, there were around 76,800 foreign scholars in the US, and 5,200 of these were German. In 2001/2002, the number of foreign scholars had risen to 86,000, but Germans only represented 5,000 of these. Overall, around 50.000 Germans were studying abroad in 2000, whereas around 113,000 foreign students were in Germany in the same year. The figure was even higher in 2002, at 143,000. Germany also appears to be doing better than its European neighbours in retaining and attracting talent. In 1999, Germany played host to 254,000 highly qualified employees with a foreign citizenship, while only 71,000 Germans of the same education level were working in these countries. A comparison with the UK backs up Ms Bulmahn's confident rejection of brain drain claims. In 1999, while 24,000 highly qualified Britons were working in Germany, only half that number - 12,000 Germans - were working in the UK.
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Germany