Paper long abstract:

Co-authors: Sabelo Dlamini, London School of Health and Tropical Medicine, Ambrose Dodoo, University of Gloucestershire

Currently, there are over 300,000 Africans in the Diaspora, 30,000 of whom have PhDs. At the same time, Africa spends more than US$4 billion per year (representing 35% of the total official development aid to the continent) to employ about 100 000 western experts performing functions generally described as technical assistance. This exodus of highly trained manpower from developing countries to industrialised nations is not a new phenomenon and the higher education sector is one of the worst hit. However, the magnitude of the problem in Africa and its alarming increase presents a growing urgency for action as the consequences of brain drain are debilitating not only to the university sector but also to the overall development of the continent.

This paper seeks to investigate the perceptions and perspectives of Commonwealth Scholars on the issues of brain drain in universities of developing countries. It assesses the working conditions of academic staff in these universities and explores the perceptions of these Scholars' working conditions in African Universities. In the paper, we establish perceived attitudes of academic staff towards working abroad and get their views and perspectives on measures that could be taken to address brain drain in African universities. Recommendations on measures that could be taken to lessen brain drain and its impact on African Universities are also solicited.