Asked by a young Nepali woman why more and more students are going abroad for higher studies, the envoy of a country that hosts one of the biggest populations of Nepali students replied: “Young people like to travel.” The ambassador was implying that even if Nepal had a far better education system than it currently does, as well as a decent job market, many young people would still jet off to faraway lands. There is thus no easy way to make young Nepalis stay back in their own country, either to work or to study. The best the country can hope is that at least some of its youths who get a good education or valuable work experience abroad come back and do something worthwhile in their homeland.

There are ways to encourage this trend. The national economy needs to grow at a decent clip, putting more disposable income in people’s hands and boosting enterprises and industries. More than that, having policy stability will allow businesses to plan long-term. It’s a virtuous cycle. Yet, even in the best-case scenario, a touch of realism is warranted: There is only so much a developing state like Nepal can do to keep its youth rooted in their country—if such a policy is advisable.

Japan seems to be the new destination of choice for Nepali students. In the just-completed fiscal year, over 112,000 students obtained the ‘no objection certificates’ (NOCs) from the Ministry of Education. (Such letters are mandatory for Nepali students to study abroad.) The ministry issued over 34,000 NOCs for Japan, followed by over 15,000 for Canada, over 14,000 for Australia, over 13,000 for the UK, and a touch over 11,000 for the US. The appeal of Japan has been steadily rising as education there is relatively cheaper compared to studying in Western countries and a Nepali student in Japan can work for up to 28 hours a week. Interestingly, the high influx of foreign students has sparked a debate in Japan, traditionally a closed country, on the costs and benefits of accepting migrants of all kinds. Pretty much the same thing is happening in Australia, which has over the past year tightened its rules for foreign students. As Australia tightened its borders, Nepali students seem to have shifted to Japan. So, again, part of the reason Nepali students go abroad is undoubtedly economic. Yet it is far from the whole story.

Rather than looking to keep young folks in the country at all costs, the goal could rather be to build a capable network of people of Nepali origin, wherever they are in the world, and harness this collective power for the country’s good. For instance, Nepalis in North America collaborated to push for the Nepal Open University, the distance learning public university established in 2016. As the gig economy takes off and studying online gains popularity, distance learning gives people the flexibility to juggle their study, work and other commitments. The potential for such collaboration is endless, if only the host country creates the right environment. Moreover, even as it is, there is a steady stream of young professionals coming back to Nepal from abroad and setting up their own businesses and ventures. Perhaps the time has come to rethink the whole debate around the ‘brain drain’ from Nepal.