And you wonder why brain-drain occurs?

I purposely arrived early at the Deputy Dean's Office to inquire about a Masters degree scholarship. Her secretary, though politely helpful as soon as I mentioned "Masters", admitted she had no information on the scholarship, nor had she seen the notice stuck on various places in the school itself. She then referred me to another Deputy Dean, or to the Institute of Graduate Studies.

Having a few minutes left before lectures began, I walked quickly to the Institute of Graduate Studies but spotted no similar notice posted there. It was an unfruitful morning.

Back home, I did a search on the internet and within an hour, acquired plenty of information on available postgraduate scholarships in foreign universities -- whether one was eligible and how one should apply. (How different from the system here where you're bombarded with "Impress me!"s and not made to feel welcome to apply!).

What's more, the sites were smoothly linked to comprehensive lists of potential supervisors and project titles (no such list exists for local universities; here, recruiting supervisors generally go by word-of-mouth, for an inexplicable reason). And to top it all, there are additional pages convincing you to choose their institution or university, or even their country!

Being a diligent student, I'm amazed at how top universities of other countries practically welcome you to pursue postgraduate studies with them and supply you all the information you need at the click of a mouse (and with complete lists of potential projects, I'm compelled to say again, which allows the student to make an informed choice!), while I am hindered by much running around and lack of (concrete) awareness on available options closer to home, in spite of being a full-time student here.

Do you still wonder why brain-drain occurs?

As The Star columnist Dina Zaman writes, "One must be practical. Sentimentality only works in fiction."