Egypt is amongst the largest emigration countries in the region and the world in terms of both number of emigrants and volume of remittances received. While characteristics of Egyptian migrants vary greatly, there is no doubt that a large pool of highly skilled migrants can be found in OECD countries. Hence, from a migration-development nexus perspective, attention to the impacts (both negative and positive) of this phenomenon is required. Using Alan Gamlen's concept of transnational governmentality and his impending policy typology, this research examines Egyptian government policy towards highly skilled migration and migrants in the OECD in an attempt to assess whether or not Egyptian government policies, in both formulation and implementation, have been conducive towards positive diaspora engagement. Policy recommendations will also be given on ways to strengthen the Egyptian government’s engagement with its diaspora and consequently intensify benefits received from such large scale highly skilled emigration.

Iman has a background in Political Science and has worked at various developmental and research organisations in the past. More recently, she completed her MA in Development at the American University of Cairo (AUC). Her research focused on Egyptian government policy towards migration and the Egyptian diaspora. More specifically she analyzed governmental attempts at engaging the Egyptian diaspora as well as knowledge transfer programs aimed at benefiting from the Egyptian diaspora’s human capital. Following this she moved to London where she helped to set up Misr El Kheir Foundation-UK a charity aimed at engaging with the Egyptian diaspora in the UK. She is currently co-founding READ (Researchers of the Egyptian Academic Diaspora). READ acts to bring together researchers of the Egyptian diaspora for the purposes of Egypt’s development—particularly the development of its education sector.