Brain Drain in Tunisia: 39,000 Engineers Have Left the Country
Kamel Sahnoun, the dean of Tunisian engineers, has declared that 39,000 Tunisian engineers have left the country out of a total of 90,000 engineers registered with the Order of Engineers. During a parliamentary hearing reported in a report by the Committee on Education, Vocational Training, and Scientific Research on a bill related to private higher education published this week, the dean of engineers added that the total number of engineering graduates is over 8,000 per year, with an average of 20 engineers leaving the country every day.
He estimated the annual cost of training engineers in Tunisia to be around 650 million dinars, warning against the continuation of the brain drain and the resulting waste of human potential.
On the other hand, the flip side of the brain drain phenomenon is quite positive. Remittances from Tunisians living abroad have increased by 4.6% to reach 7.607.8 million dinars, surpassing the revenue generated by the tourism sector, which has also increased by 7.2% to reach 7.050 million dinars as of December 10, 2024, according to data from the Central Bank of Tunisia. These transfers have a direct impact on Tunisia's foreign exchange reserves.
Source: TAP
