Summary 

The following article supposes with the help of evidence that migratory processes in Georgia occur according to general laws of migration and are derived from the existing theories of migration. Subsequently, against the backdrop of neoclassical and sociological conceptions of migration, the article presents migratory motivations and homecoming conditions of those students, who after graduating from a university want to continue studying abroad.

The reason of primacy for choosing a specific country and university by students for further studying is analyzed, as well as the expected positive and negative social-demographic and economic results of the students who went abroad to receive education.

Within the structure of Georgian students’ educational needs, the fields of economics and business administration are clearly defined (45,6%). Moreover, these professions are a little more popular among girls (46,7%) than among boys (44,5%). According to the chosen professions, girls exceed boys in terms of natural sciences and social-political branches. Humanitarium profession are equally distributed, whereas boys outnumber girls in all the rest, especially engineering and technical branches.

It should be noted that the field of agriculture is basically populated by boys, which, unfortunately, indicates to the fact that girls are less interested in agriculture even from the standpoint of small business.

After graduation 12,3% of students plan to continue studying for master’s degree or doctorate, and 26,8% intends to start working, 1,1% of the student body has not made up their mind yet, whereas 0,5%, among which majority are women, plans to go abroad.

Among the students who want to leave the country, about 26,9% does so only in order to continue studying, and 14,1% has working in mind. The majority of such students (59,0%) plans to mix work and education. This last trend shows students’ lack of hope in terms of finding a job in Georgia after graduation, as well as the low level of education at universities. It is significant to pay attention to the fact that the students realize how market economy requires higher professionalism from them, which, in their opinion, is more likely to attain abroad rather than in Georgia.

In this regard, it is important to mention that the share of the girls (63,6%), who are willing to go abroad in order to continue studying is nearly twice (1,7 times) more  of the share of the boys, whereas it is quite another picture when leaving the country only with the aim of finding a job, during which the share of the boys (60,3%) is almost 1,5 times higher than the girls’ (39,7%). This means that the males agree to do any job abroad which does not require high qualification. As regards emigrating for the purpose of having a part-time job and studying at the same time, in this case, the share of the girls (56,6%) exceeds that of the boys’ by 13,2%.

The following factors are primarily taken into account by students when it comes to choosing a country where they are going to study: the existence of a specific educational institution in the country where a student is planning to arrive – 40,6%; more opportunities for acquiring professional experience – 19,8%; higher possibilities of employment – 17,6%; it is pleasing that the majority of the students (40,6%) basically opt for a country based on the desired university or college. In light of this, the fact that 63,5% of the students have not chosen an educational institution yet can be considered negative.

Among the criteria for choosing universities or colleges students consider the following to be of high importance: more opportunities for further studying and getting a job – 32,2%, numerous chances to participate in various scholarship programs – 11,2%, possibilities of internship – 10,6%. It should be noted that 28,8% of the respondents did not answer the questions, which, in our estimation, points to their ignoring above mentioned criteria.

It is interesting that the majority of these students – 62,9%, wishes to continue studying for master’s degree, 10,1% − for doctorate, 2,2% − for medical residency, and 13,7% − for various short-term educational programs. This indicates to the students’ desire to receive a high-level professional education. It should also be said that only 9,4% of the students intends to continue studying abroad on the level of baccalaureate.

Furthermore, 65,5% of the students plans to go on studying to attain a degree in the already chosen profession, 23,2% wants to shift to related professions, 17,3% chooses a wider profile professions, and 5,6% intend to change their profession.

The statistics cited above points to the problems in the higher education system of Georgia. The thing is that students are not happy and satisfied with the quality of education at Georgian universities. This forces them to emigrate toward foreign universities and colleges in order to receive a high-quality education.

According to the results of the survey, 56,4% of the interviewed students plan to return to Georgia, 53,2% will make that decision after graduating, and 3,6% intends to stay abroad.

If we take into account that a certain number of students (even small) will reach a decision to return back home after studying abroad, it is possible to assume that a fairly large number of the youth will not come back. In terms of demography, this process will, on the one hand, decrease reproduction rate of the population, which is low as it is, and on the other hand, economically speaking, the country will lose qualified and educated human capital,

According to the laws of migration, foreign immigrants replace emigrated population. Lately, Georgia has witnessed an influx of foreigners who emigrated from the underdeveloped countries of Africa and Asia. Based on the slow pace of social-economic development of these countries, it is highly probable that a cheap labor force with lower qualifications from those countries will become proliferated in Georgia. This is bound to create competitiveness on the labor market between those foreign workers and the local better qualified work force. In this regard, it is important to pay attention to the growth of immigrants in the later period, who want to receive education in Georgia.

According to Geostat, the number of foreign immigrants grew from 39890 to 43142 men during 2012-2016, which directly reflects the growing dynamic of immigration. This is confirmed by 2018 report of the non-governmental organization named “Green Caucasus”, according to which 78218 immigrants were registered in 2017, that is 8,1% of the country’s whole population.

It is also significant to take a look at the growing dynamic of foreign students, the number of which exceeded 12 000 during 2017-2018. According to the national center for educational quality enhancement, 10306 students from 89 countries are receiving education in 56 Georgian universities in 2017-2018, which indicates to the growing desire to get education in Georgia.  A big group is noticeable from among those students – 38% from India and its neighboring countries (Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Nepal). Since 2011, lots of students from the remote countries of Africa started arriving in Georgia for the purpose of studying. The largest number of those students consists of Nigerians (5% of the foreign students). Based on the analysis of these immigrants, their biggest demand is on medical education and this demand is ever growing. 63% of the foreign students, studying at Tbilisi State Medical University, are from India. However, among them a significant number of students are also from Iraq and Sri Lanka.