‘Brain drain’ stifling NI economy: think tank

The exodus of people with degree-level qualifications has resulted in an imbalanced workforce, leading to an economy that struggles to attract high-paying employment, Pivotal has said.

“Despite all this, the Executive currently does basically nothing to reduce or stop the brain drain. Pivotal is calling for this to change,” a new report states.

Currently around 17,500 students from Northern Ireland are enrolled in courses in England, Scotland or Wales – the equivalent of an entire university’s worth of young people – and is around two-thirds of the 25,000 students currently studying at either Queen’s University or Ulster University.

With the trend expected to continue, more than 11,000 of those young people attending universities in Great Britain are not likely to return to Northern Ireland.

The Pivotal report argues that the loss of talent must be reversed for Northern Ireland to grow economically.

It says: “In the coming decades, the vast majority of newly-created jobs are expected to require high skills and qualifications, such as degrees, while fewer than 10% of new roles will seek people with level 2 qualifications (good GCSEs or equivalent) or lower.

“Northern Ireland already has a shortage of people with degrees and an over-supply of people with lower-level qualifications. Without addressing educational migration as part of a broader upskilling strategy, NI is missing out on the contribution these graduates could make to a growing economy.”

Pivotal’s paper also suggests that wider issues, such as a regionally unbalanced economy and lack of infrastructure investment, need to be looked at as possible drivers of outward educational migration.

Pivotal director Ann Watt, said: “The so-called ‘brain drain’ is a long-term and persistent challenge for Northern Ireland. It is one of the reasons that Northern Ireland struggles with a low skilled workforce and a shortage of people with higher level qualifications. In turn, this holds back economic growth as Northern Ireland loses out on the contribution these skilled graduates could make to the economy.

Ms Watt added: “Despite all this, little effort has been made to attract or retain graduates. Educational migration is a serious challenge... but there are currently no policies in place to deal with it.”

• “NI is the only part of the UK that has cut spending on higher education (HE) in recent years,” Pivotal says.

“HE is funded via a grant from the Department for the Economy plus contributions from students through tuition fees. NI has not consistently followed other parts of the UK with substantial rises in tuition fees over the past decade, instead only tracking inflation. Other factors that could push students out of NI, or keep them here, include social and economic considerations like opportunities elsewhere and the influence of friends and family.”