Despite the relentless egress of Filipino graduates in science and technology, the Philippines still maintains a critical mass of science and technology human resource, below the critical level of brain drain.
According to the soon-to-be-published “Emigration of Science and Technology Educated Filipinos (1998-2006),” which was conducted by the Department of Science and Technology-Science Education Institute (DOST-SEI) in cooperation with Commission on Filipino Overseas (CFO), despite a “considerable permanent loss” of manpower in science and technology, the stock of professionals in this field has not reached critical level.
Of the 107,548 registered science and technology professionals in the country, only 24, 871 science and technology graduates went out of the country, a mere 23.13% of the total science and technology pool.
Nurses getting out of the country account for the largest number of science and technology emigrants at 13, 973, which makes up 34.83% of the 40,138 registered nursing professionals.
This is followed by civil engineers (2,575), teachers (2,271), mechanical engineers (2,031), electrical engineers (1,683), medical technologists (1,570), and pharmacists (768).
Most favored country of destination by emigrants is the United States of America with 17,465 science and technology professionals settling there.
This is followed by Canada (4,947) and Australia (972) while the rest are to other countries (1,307).
The study said that the rise of nursing graduates going to developed countries like the US is a natural consequence of the preference of their locals pursuing business and careers in information technology (IT).
“In the demand side, many developed countries have experienced major skilled labor shortages because of numerous factors like high demand in certain sectors and lack of adequate training facilities,” the study said.
The study noted that migration of engineering graduates could be due to “ general trends of using technology for increased global competitiveness and productivity by many foreign multinational corporations, more business ventures into knowledge-intensive industries, expansion of service sectors which increase demand for S&T personnel, and skills shortages making salary higher in IT and computer-related employment services”
Dr. Ester B. Ogena, Director of the DOST-SEI, said the government is trying its best to keep the science and technology human resource of the country and one move is to offer them scholarships.
Ogena said the government has the Accelerated Science and Technology Human Resource Development Program (ASTHRDP) and the Engineering Research and Development Technology Program (ERDTP) to entice the graduates to pursue post-baccalaureate studies.
She said the ASTHRDP and the ERDTP are the agency's contribution in helping improve the Philippines' global competitiveness and capability to innovate through alternative approaches on human resource development in science and technology.
“We believe that developing the human resources of science and technology in the country would provide the second wind to sustain the economic growth of the country. Creating a larger pool of researchers and engineers would provide newer products and processes that would take our industries to a higher level of development,” she said.
Ogena said that the graduate scholarships are also in line with the implementation of the research agenda outlined in the National Science and Technology Plan (NSTP) and the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP).
“Through these scholarships, we could provide accessible graduate education and attain a critical mass of MS and PhD graduates which shall develop a culture of research and development in the country,” she said.
