I guess European citizenship really helped initially. But for most lesser developed countries it's often sufficient to have special skills that are in demand there. And I'm not talking about academia; there's also demand for construction skills, meat processing and other stuff out there.

Two of the most successful people I've met during my years on the roll were a German butcher who is now running a sausage empire in Asia, and a Swedish carpenter who is now working as general manager for an NGO in Kenya, building schools all over Africa. Neither of them are university graduates.

In fact most graduates I meet are middle to upper level manager who've been sent by their respective companies to work abroad, which absolutely means they have a decent income, but they all run into a glass ceiling at some point. And many struggled hard to readjust when they were eventually called home; whereas the more entrepreneurial types just carved a niche for themselves.