B Lindsay Lowell, director of policy studies at Georgetown University's Institute for the Study of International Migration, says it is difficult to draw conclusions from the Wadhwa study because of the methodology.
"Shy of systematic administrative data or reasonably random samples, I'm skeptical that we can really say anything too definitive about the number or nature of the apparent return migration," he says.
He cautions against making policy decisions without more reliable data. He believes that if more students are in fact returning to their home countries, the predominant reasons are probably economic.
"I think [return migration] reflects the state of the U.S. economy at the moment," he says. "The labor market is pretty soft, and corporations are tightening their belts. At the same time, India is apparently doing pretty well. So why not return?"
Image: Foreign graduates at a US university. | Photograph: Paresh Gandhi/Rediff Archives
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