A Future-Oriented Analysis of Academic Reverse Migration

In terms of education, the population of Iranian immigrants abroad has created one of the highest quality communities far from home. Many of these people pursue postgraduate studies after migrating to developed countries. The return of these people to Iran will increase the country's human capital and pave the way for development.  The aim of this research is a future-oriented analysis of the reverse migration of academic elites. The reverse migration of academic elites observes the phenomenon of the return of individuals after obtaining a Ph.D. abroad. In this study, the Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) method and semi-structured interview tools employed to examine metaphors/myths, discourse/worldview, and macro-social causes of reverse migration of academic elites in the minds of university faculty members of universities affiliated to the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology who have studied abroad. Due to the relatively low salaries of university faculty members compared to other countries, the impossibility of employment in universities, the duality between personal and social life of individuals in Iran, concerns about the future of children, complexity and lack of transparency, economic and political instability of the country, the bureaucracy of the university employment process and the impossibility of working in the country's industrial sector, the process of reverse migration of academic elites to the country, do not have a clear vision in the minds of the interviewees. At the same time, in an attempt to present alternative futures, factors such as economic prosperity, political stability, restoring lost confidence in social, cultural, economic, and political factors, engagement with other countries, recognition and adaptation to new realities of society, improving and strengthening the relationship between universities and industry, and modernizing the conditions of employment and recruitment of faculty members have been emphasized.