| The role of engineers in the development of any nation cannot be overemphasized and this role is even more crucial in the developing countries. From industrial capacity building, agricultural mechanization, space exploration, healthcare delivery, pharmaceutical and clean water resource development is but a few of such roles. Technological innovation is central to wealth creation and economic growth and it is imperative that countries develop and maintain adequate manpower with the requisite skills to support these developments.The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that influence emigration decisions of Ghanaian engineers with particular focus on education. The premise of the study was that lack of access to higher education programs (graduate and post graduate) and socio-economic factors contribute largely to the emigration decisions of Ghanaian engineers. A study of this nature has the potential to guide policy decisions and resource allocation needed to develop and retain Ghanaian engineers. It can also help to provide focus for the design of graduate programs that are geared towards national development goals.The study investigated the extent to which participants' perception about the quality of their engineering education, desire to study abroad, family ties abroad, individual economic status, availability of graduate programs, opportunity for upward mobility, and desire to change careers, influenced their emigration decisions. A survey instrument was developed and a quantitative methodology was utilized. The data collected was put in an Excel spreadsheet and a statistical analysis of the data was completed using the SPSS software, version 16.0 for Windows. Descriptive and inferential statistical analysis, including percentages, frequencies and Chi-square analyses of independence and goodness-of-fit tests were applied.The findings reveal that although the engineering graduates surveyed considered their engineering education at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) to be of good quality, the inaccessibility of graduate programs or lack of opportunity for upward mobility, greatly influenced their emigration decisions.It was also evident from the study that the cost of undergraduate education did not influence participants' choice of academic discipline and did not play any significant role in their emigration decisions. The Government loan schemes support students through tertiary education hence the cost of undergraduate education was not a factor in emigration decisions of Ghanaian engineers. |
