Professors on the Move

Abstract

Using new research methodology to trace migration, the total population of newly appointed professors from abroad was used to study the patterns of migration to the Netherlands and the relation between the individual quality and the university of origin quality. Through selection mechanism on the side of the scientists and the university; and a growing job market and selection pool for both parties through the forces of internationalization and globalization quality; would mean that talent manifest itself in high quality institutes. Earlier research has shown that scientific migration is stratified, meaning that thus university quality should correlate to individual quality. This correlation was found and highly significant (0,005). Furthermore the pattern of migration to the Netherlands showed that most immigrants come from the United States and United Kingdom; move to a university in the city of Amsterdam; and work in the research areas Nature; Law; or Language and Culture. The approach used is particularly useful to trace and study individuals working in the research areas Behaviour and Social Sciences, Economics, Health as these research areas are better suited for bibliometric analysis.