This chapter introduces the Asian scientist migration system, focusing on the first stage of this system: the initial migration of aspiring Asian scientists to the West for training. The chapter explains how a well-established training pathway from Asia to the West had emerged in the second half of the twentieth century. The factors behind this emergence included the structural inadequacies of the scientific training system within the Asian home country, government- and university-driven opportunity structures in the West and in Asia that encouraged westward student migrations, the cumulative network effects driven by earlier cohorts of Asian student migrants in the West, and the widely circulating images of specific Western countries as scientifically advanced and welcoming. But the chapter also higlights the rising standards in science training in various Asian countries. With the growing stature of national research universities in select Asian countries, growing numbers of aspiring Asian scientists may choose to complete their doctoral training in their home country and only move to the West for postdoctoral training. Other aspiring scientists may choose to move within Asia for graduate training.

This chapter offers a brief assessment of the scientific research system and higher education sector in four Asian countries: China, India, Singapore and Taiwan. The chapter provides readers with a brief history of each country and an overview of each country's higher education sector. The chapter then focuses on the state of science and technology in each country, with particular emphasis on the state of bioscience research, before ending with the specific challenges each country faces in trying to boost their standing in the global scientific field. In all four cases, the strong role of the state in channelling immense resources towards the sciences is highlighted. In the case of China and Singapore, the heavy investment made by both countries' governments in transforming many of their national universities into "world-class" research universities is noted. Taiwan's ongoing vulnerability because of its geopolitical position vis-a-vis China is also discussed. India is noted as the country with the least advanced research infrastructure of the four, but also the youngest population with growing numbers of students interested in the sciences. Singapore's small size is discussed as its key weakness.

This chapter introduces the questions driving the book and summarizes its four main findings:

1. 1. The recent improvements in the scientific research systems in select Asian countries, that have led to an increase in the return migrations of Western-trained Asian scientists

2. 2. The increasing diversification of training pathways within the Asian scientist migration system

3. 3. How returned Asian scientists are affecting the scientific research systems and scientific cultures in the Asian research organizations where they work through their scientific remittances

4. 4. The variations that exist in the scientific research systems and cultures across Asia.

This chapter discusses the return decision-making process for Asian scientists trained in the West, to understand the factors driving the recent increase in return migrations. The factors which influence Asian scientists’ return decisions are organized along three axes of influence:

1. 1. Integration, meaning the degree of social exclusion and cultural belonging Asian scientists experienced in the West, compared to what they imagined they would feel back in Asia

2. 2. Familial obligation to their parents (often still in Asia) versus an obligation to their spouse and their children (in the West)

3. 3. Ambition, which references their particular scientific and professional goals for themselves as individual scientists versus as citizens pursuing science for their country.