By Jan Petter Myklebust and Eric Beerkens. The number of doctoral candidates in the 13 Dutch universities jumped by almost 60% in the decade to 2010 and is now close to 4,000 students each year. An OECD country report on tertiary education in The Netherlands in 2008 said the proportion of foreign students at doctorate level was then 20%, with some 640 PhDs conferred. Through the ongoing internationalisation of graduate education in The Netherlands, a broad variety of different PhD trajectories have emerged. The PhD candidate as an employee of the university is the traditional model and is still widespread, especially in the hard sciences and life sciences. Increasingly, however, foreign PhD candidates come to The Netherlands to pursue the degree while being funded by their own governments. Chinese government-sponsored students and DIKTI students – lecturers funded by the Indonesian Directorate General of Higher Education – are important examples.
The PhD premium
The output-based financing in the Dutch system – through a so-called ‘PhD premium’ where universities receive around €90,000 (US$116,000) for each graduate – is an important factor contributing to the growth. Read more...

By Manuel Heitor, Hugo Horta and Joana Mendonça. The growing significance of intangible resources to the social and economic development of modern societies has underlined the importance of enlarging the pool of talent, particularly at knowledge-based institutions, such as universities. In times of growing global uncertainty, scientific and academic institutions strive to build critical mass by attracting and retaining highly qualified people resulting, above all, in increasing competition for talent worldwide. Doctorates are among the most sought-after highly qualified human resources, and it is well known that scientific and economic powers across the world act as magnets for talent from developing countries and emerging regions around the world. Read more...

By Lena Adamson and Anders Flodström. In June 2010, the Swedish parliament decided that non-European students should pay tuition fees from the autumn of the following year while studying in Sweden. The consequences were dramatic. In the autumn of that year, the number of non-European students applying for a place in Swedish masters programmes plummeted to 25,000 – down from 125,000 the year before – while the number admitted fell from 16,600 to 1,200. Read more...

By Amelie Constant. Highly educated and skilled Italians take their talent abroad in search of better funds, career opportunities and payoffs. Despite Europe's attempts to retain ‘brains’, 30,000 Italian researchers leave each year, while only 3,000 qualified scientists go to Italy. It is no wonder the media, policymakers and scholars have used the term “brain drain” in recent years to describe this phenomenon. Read more...