As others have pointed out many times (recently Richwine 2019), one cannot just use identical thresholds of educational attainment to select for identical levels of human capital (broadly conceptualized) among sending immigrant countries. Example of this was that Heiner Rindermann mentioned in an interview (in German) that:
Selbst in einer Elitegruppe, Ingenieurstudenten aus den Golfstaaten, ist ein großer Unterschied erkennbar: Deren Kompetenzen liegen um zwei bis vier Schuljahre hinter denen vergleichbarer deutscher Ingenieurstudenten. Diese Ergebnismuster untermauert eine jüngst in Chemnitz durchgeführte Studie: Asylbewerber mit Universitätsstudium wiesen in mathematischen und figuralen Aufgaben einen Durchschnitts-IQ von 93 auf – ein Fähigkeitsniveau von einheimischen Realschülern.—Even in an elite group, engineering students from the Gulf States, a big difference is recognizable: their competencies are two to four years behind those of comparable German engineering students. These results are underpinned by a recent study in Chemnitz: Asylum seekers with university studies had an average IQ of 93 in mathematical and figurative tasks – a skill level of native high school students.
The sources for this claim are given in somewhat obscure sources. I had to ask him where to find them, so they are here in case someone else was wondering:
Emirati engineering students had an IQ of 104. IQ 93 was the result of refugees in our Chemnitz sample with university experience (studying). IQ 88 was the result of refugees in our Chemnitz sample without university experience.
- Rindermann, H., Baumeister, A. E. E. & Gröper, A. (2014). Cognitive
abilities of Emirati and German engineering university students. Journal
of Biosocial Science, 46, 199-213.
- Rindermann, H. (2015). Ein Hintergrundgespräch zum Migrations-Artikel im
Focus. Hintergrund. Zeitschrift für kritische Gesellschaftstheorie und
Politik, 28(4), 44-66.
