Summary In the 1980s migration for education from Bangladesh was
generally limited to tertiary level. Under bilateral and multilateral
arrangements scholarships and fellowships were offered to university
teachers, technical experts and members of government and autonomous
research institutions essentially to pursue higher degrees in sciences,
engineering and to an extent arts and social sciences. Privately
funded migration for education was scarce, less so for secondary
and higher secondary levels. The situation has changed markedly
over the last decade or so, both in the volume and stock of migrants.
While migration for higher studies continues, there has been a remarkable
rise in privately funded migration for education. Migration for
secondary and higher studies take place to countries in the region
such as India, Thailand and Singapore as well as to developed countries
of the west that include Australia, UK, USA and Canada. There also
has been a burgeoning growth of private agencies to facilitate student
migration. One may however note that the phenomenon of student migration
from Bangladesh has thus far remained largely unexamined.
Key Research Questions
What are the factors that contributed to
the growth of student migration from Bangladesh?
Why has the migration of students at non-tertiary
levels increased in the last decade or so?
To what extent are changes in policies of
destination countries linked to outflows from Bangladesh?
What are the types and quality of services
provided by various facilitating agencies: public and private,
local and foreign?
To what extent does student migration contribute
to brain gain to or brain drain from Bangladesh?
Focus group discussions with aspiring student
migrants.
2.
Questionnaire survey of 100 student migrants (outbound
or returnee
3.
Meetings with select group of private facilitation agencies.
4.
Meetings with education attaches of a select group of
embassies.
5.
Meetings with representatives of concerned government
departments and agencies including those under the ministries
of Education, Home and Foreign Affairs.
Key Outputs
A national seminar involving
various stakeholders including government, media and the
private sector
A report that may subsequently
be published as a book
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