Yaacov Ben-David, a professor at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, Canada, is working temporarily as a foreign expert in Guiyang, Guizhou province

The "talent deficit" in developing countries is a problem that can't be solved entirely, according to experts. To move from a "brain drain" to a "brain gain", China should follow the trend of globalized talent, improve the environment for nurturing talent, create a favorable environment for returning talent, and establish an economic model driven by information and innovation.

China would gain greatly by recruiting specialist scientists to its universities. Many research-based universities in large cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, are already very close to international standards in terms of publications, funding and training. Therefore, it's easy for them to recruit foreign talent, even though they may not need to. Foreign recruitment may work best for smaller universities and less-developed cities.