A quantitative assessment of potential benefits and challenges of international researcher mobility for home and host countries: evidence from the Chinese Scholarship Council programmes

Understanding the benefits and challenges of international mobility programmes for both home and host countries is essential for evaluating them. This study provides a quantitative assessment of the Chinese government-sponsored international mobility programmes, the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC) programmes, by examining their effects on home and host countries across disciplines from five key perspectives: output volume, impact, collaboration, funding, and involvement in security-sensitive research areas. Our findings suggest that, for the home country (China), the funding programmes enhance China’s research capabilities in alignment with its strategic development priorities. Additional evidence suggests that the funding programmes facilitate international collaboration and allow awardees to work with highly cited researchers. For host countries, the funding programmes promote collaboration with China and may support host researchers where funding might be scarce. Also, the funding programmes place little emphasis on dual-use research and have limited ties to the “Seven Sons of National Defence” universities. This finding addresses current concerns in some host countries regarding security challenges. The study provides evidence for policymakers to develop strategies that maximise the benefits of international mobility programmes and address associated challenges.