In order to effectively promote research periods abroad, a detailed knowledge base is required covering the frequency, typical forms, target countries and potential benefits of international mobility as well as the factors impeding it. Existing funding models and instruments to promote international mobility must also be examined. In recent years, numerous broadly based monitoring studies and focused, theory-guided analyses have generated wide-ranging knowledge of these aspects. However, the existing findings are currently only available in fragmented, unsystematised form. Against this background, the study International Mobility of Young Researchers aims to systematise, collate and evaluate the existing data sources and studies.
The focus here is not simply on international mobility of young researchers from Germany. As the other side of the internationalisation coin, the attractiveness of Germany's academic sector and science system is also examined. This 'other side' refers to the willingness of international academics to research and teach in Germany (for a time) and their assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of being employed in the German academic system. In this context, we also analyse the long-term willingness of German academics to emigrate and their assessment of the attractiveness of Germany as a location for academic work.
The study is one of nine detailed sub-studies prepared for the Federal Report on the Promotion of Young Researchers (BuWiN) 2017. The BuWiN is an important basis for discussion and further development of the political and legal framework for young researchers in Germany. The report also addresses issues of the development and management of higher education institutions, and of educational policy.
BuWiN 2017 is being prepared by an independent consortium, led by the Institute for Innovation and Technology (iit), to which the following institutions belong: the DZHW, the Institute for Higher Education Research at the Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg (HoF), the Bavarian State Institute for Higher Education Research and Planning (IHF), the International Centre for Higher Education Research (INCHER) Kassel and the Federal Statistical Office.
