It's no secret that Tufts is known for its emphasis on global citizenship, boasting an internationally focused, cosmopolitan atmosphere built around the Fletcher School and the university's popular undergraduate International Relations program.
These qualities have attracted students from across the globe: according to the most recent Tufts Factbook, between undergraduate and graduate programs, Tufts has a total of 1,194 international students, hailing from countries from Albania to Moldova.
Nationwide, numbers of international students are high as well: in the 2004-2005 school year, the United States hosted 565,039 students from abroad, according to the Institute of International Education. This number is more than quadruple the number of students hosted 36 years ago in the 1970-1971 school year.
But with so many foreigners being educated in America, what happens back at home? When intelligent citizens vacate their home country permanently, taking their talents with them, is an international "brain drain" created?
As Director of Tufts International Center, Jane Etish-Andrews has her finger on the pulse of the international community at Tufts. She said many foreign students are drawn to the United States for "the reputation of a U.S. degree", often more prestigious than those available at home.
Etish-Andrews said that after graduation, many students decide to stay in America for job or research opportunities.
"It can be very difficult for people to do the work they want to do back in their home country," she said. "[A U.S. education] opens more doors for them, giving them more choices as they decide upon their future. Students that want to come [to America] really want to be here - no one's saying 'now remember, come back.'"
According to Etish-Andrews, it's hard to say how many international Tufts students have stayed in the United States after graduating. In her time at Tufts, she said she's seen "a little bit of everything."
Junior Alexander Sultan-Kahn, president of the international club, was drawn to the United States from Switzerland by the lure of a liberal arts degree, which offers more flexibility than the traditional European degree.
"It's very unusual in Europe to attend classes as small as they are here, and to be encouraged to approach and interact with professors like we do at Tufts," he said.
Sultan-Kahn said his international school in Switzerland sends many students to the United States. However, while he has a green card, which gives him full permission to live and work in the United States, many of his international peers are here on visas that don't allow students to stay after they finish their education.
With these visas so common, Sultan-Kahn does not see brain drain as problematic, since these short-term visas prevent many students from staying in the United States after they graduate.
"The number of students studying abroad is not high enough to have a significant effect on their own country's higher education systems," he said. "Many intellectuals stay put."
The biggest pressure on a student to stay at home, he said, comes not from the implications of national brain drain but from family pressure to stay together.
Eren Bucak, a sophomore from Turkey, views brain drain as a larger problem.
"Although not a great percentage of Turkish people study abroad, the ones who do ultimately have greater opportunities in the States to pursue their interests," he said in an e-mail. "I don't believe this is about culture; it is about the economic and educational problems Turkey is facing."
For students hailing from countries like Turkey with only moderate economic clout, opportunities in the United States make for a more lucrative option than returning home. However, as countries like India and China increase their own economic prosperity, Etish-Andrews pointed out that students are now returning in higher numbers than they have in previous years.
According to Etish-Andrews, the brain drain landscape is also changing with stronger higher education developing in England and Australia. "There is a lot more competition for international students out there today than there was in the past," she said.
While increased globalization makes it more feasible for students to study abroad, Etish-Andrews said, it also changes the landscape of international education that may keep students in their home countries.
"Singapore is now looking at developing U.K. and U.S. education models to encourage students to stay at home," Etish-Andrews said. A growing number of American schools are also setting up branches in foreign countries, allowing students there to get U.S. degrees while remaining at home.
But some international students maintain active ties and loyalty to their home countries while abroad and plan to settle there.
"Many international students who don't go back have gotten involved in work or careers that impact their home country or region," Etish-Andrews said.
Sophomore Yeonjung Park hopes this will happen with her native country of South Korea.
"A majority of students from Korea [who study abroad do so] in America," Park said in an e-mail. "This may be a problem, but if these students gain great experiences here that they can bring to Korea later on, they would be able to contribute a lot to my country."
