Push and pull factors in brain drain among university students

Abstract

The brain drain problem has been studied in the literature as an interaction between push factors in developing countries and pull factors in wealthy countries. It is essential to measure these factors to address the problem efficiently. This study aims to improve the process of prioritizing brain drain factors among Croatian students. The study was conducted among university students from all schools of the University of Zagreb and across seven scientific fields. This research combined two methods: the neural network analysis and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Neural network analysis is used to identify push and pull factors that most strongly influence students’ potential decision to leave a country. The AHP is used to prioritize the most critical pull and push factors according to the results of the neural network analysis. The study results indicate that pull factors are more important than push factors for students in all fields of study, except in Arts. Developing countries should strive to adopt policies to create new employment opportunities, improve the quality of life, and create a favorable business climate.