The route to Brain-Drain : ''Personal accounts of African students in Sweden''

Abstract: The migration of students from different African countries into Sweden has increased over the years; and the result of this movement is believed to create a brain drain phenomenon in the African continent. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the prior knowledge on brain drain from Africa. This has been done by focusing on the primary respondents (African students), as a way of getting to know more about the specific reasons why most students choose to remain in Sweden after their studies for either a short of long period of time. The study also gave a brief background into how the brain drain phenomenon began in Africa, as well as the damage which the exit of many students from the continent may cause to future development process. The conclusion of this paper has shown that, although most African students would like to remain in Sweden after their studies; however majority have attributed their continuous stay to the search of sufficient financial resources before returning to their home countries. Furthermore, a turn-around in the development process of Africa and a stable political environment would encourage many African students to return after their studies.