Internationalization in higher education represents one of the instruments of development aid and contributes to leveling global knowledge deficits. However, the global transfer of education and science is by no means a zero-sum game. The countries of the global periphery are constantly losing talented young people to the countries of the global centers in the form of a brain drain.

In times of an impending global shortage of skilled labor, the internationalization of academia is not always seen as a blessing, but often also as a threat to the development of the economies of developing countries. Internationalization of academia not only means knowledge transfer but also harbors the risk of large scale brain drain.

Although Germany itself is increasingly dependent on the influx of international skilled labor, German educational policy strives to counteract these tendencies towards the global redistribution of talent. A balance between brain drain and brain gain is to be achieved through political measures and the strategic use of funding instruments. The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), as Germany's largest agency for the internationalization of its higher education, is therefore working on approaches that implement a more balanced, fairer system of global brain circulation.