Brain pool: How large and of what quality?

To take a nation forward requires numerous factors to work in unison. Fundamental to this process, however, is the quality of its people — its brain pool. When the brain pool is undeveloped, underdeveloped, or depleted (brain drain) it sets serious constraints on how far a nation can go and how quickly.

Harbison depicts the matter of the brain pool rather eloquently. According to him: “Human resources constitute the ultimate basis for wealth of nations. Capital and natural resources are passive factors of production; human beings are the active agents who accumulate capital, exploit natural resources, build social, economic and political organisations, and carry forward national development.”

Only when the brain pool — skills, talents, energies, and knowledge — is effectively developed and harnessed does a nation attain the capacity and credibility to become a “star” in its own right.

The importance of the brain pool is amply evident from a campaign directed at the underprivileged in an advanced industrialised county entitled, “A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste.” Such thinking reflects how much the particular country values its people. It is important, therefore, to reflect on the capacity of “our” brain pool and contemplate ways of nurturing it.

via Brain pool: How large and of what quality?.