Migration is no longer considered as a purely negative factor. The highly-qualified expatriate community is regarded as an available human asset, as long as the country of origin is aware of how to take advantage of it.
Brain gain can occur in two ways.
It assumes that in today's world, distances and borders are no longer an obstacle to the exchange of knowledge and to undertaking co-operative work. Networking offers new opportunities without curtailing the existing professional and personal links. However, this new strategy is really effective when highly-qualified persons can locate in their country of origin as well as in the diaspora the institutions, companies, lobbies and programmes with which they can effectively interact. The case of South Africa A number of studies and governmental commissions have highlighted the growing shortage of high level skills in South Africa today. This shortage of skills comes at a time when they are most needed.