Formal Education as a Facilitator of Migration and Integration: A Case Study of Nigerian University Graduates

Abstract

This chapter examines the triple nexus of education, migration and integration by analysing how formal tertiary education facilitates emigration and integration of Nigerian university graduates. The author draws on 65 semi-structured interviews with highly-skilled Nigerian migrants in the three destination countries Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States and on a web-survey among Nigerian university graduates from three Nigerian universities. Educational attainment in Nigeria can be interpreted as furthering the overall aim of migration. Taking a cultural perspective on migration, it can be interpreted as a part of the Nigerian culture, which regards it as something one is expected to achieve in life. Based on six types of highly-skilled migrants, this study suggests a multi-dimensional migration model that considers different stages of the migration process and their outcomes along a spatiotemporal continuum to challenge rather negative perspectives on brain drain and to promote the concept of brain circulation.