Are We Funding the Next Generation… for Someone Else?

Frontpage Journal | Business Insights

A new study has confirmed what many Sri Lankans have long suspected, more than half of our university graduates migrate after completing their studies, and the majority never return.

This is not just a “brain drain.” It is a publicly funded talent giveaway. Every year, taxpayers spend millions to put bright young minds through university. Those degrees, earned with public investment, often end up serving foreign economies before they have contributed a single cent in local taxes, mentored a younger student, or helped build a local business.

The motivations are complex, but the economic math is simple. With graduate salaries often failing to keep pace with the rising cost of living, many young professionals see migration not as an opportunity, but as the only viable path to a stable future. Increasingly, it is not just the graduates who are driving this trend, parents, disillusioned with the country’s economic trajectory, are actively encouraging their children to seek work abroad.

In such households, the graduation ceremony is less a celebration of academic achievement and more the symbolic first step toward the departure lounge.

The result is a damaging cycle. Universities continue to produce skilled graduates. Those graduates leave, taking with them not just their knowledge, but also their potential to contribute to local industries, mentor future generations, and shape the national innovation landscape.

A bold, and controversial, proposal now gaining traction suggests introducing a graduate repayment scheme for those who permanently settle abroad. Under this model, students who received free or heavily subsidized higher education in Sri Lanka would repay between USD 10,000 and 15,000 if they decide to live and work overseas for the long term. Advocates argue this would recover at least a fraction of the public money spent on their education, easing the burden on taxpayers.

Opponents counter that such a policy penalizes ambition, punishes those seeking better opportunities, and ignores the systemic issues, such as underemployment, low wages, and limited career growth, that push graduates to leave in the first place.

The debate strikes at the heart of a bigger question: are we building a generation of founders, innovators, and problem-solvers who will drive Sri Lanka forward, or are we simply producing polished CVs for the global talent market?

The loss is not just economic. When over half of a generation’s best and brightest leave, the country loses future business leaders, researchers, teachers, and policymakers. That absence is felt across decades, creating a mentorship gap that no number of imported consultants or training workshops can replace.

Reversing the trend will take more than financial penalties. It will require creating an environment where young professionals feel their work is valued, their careers can grow, and their contributions matter. Without such changes, we risk turning our universities into little more than departure gates, places where talent is trained, polished, and packed for export.

The choice before us is clear. We can either invest in retaining talent by creating opportunity, or we can continue to pay for the education of a workforce that will never come home.