US crackdowns on academia will only send global talent elsewhere

Where would the United States be without immigrant talent? Some of the country’s leading tech companies, including Alphabet and Nvidia, were founded or co-founded by immigrants. Two-thirds of the tech workers in Silicon Valley are foreign-born. According to research by the Institute for Progress, 60 per cent of the US’ top artificial intelligence (AI) companies have immigrant founders, including former international students. The role of Cambridge, Massachusetts as a magnet for global talent is being undermined by the Trump administration. Notwithstanding a court injunction, the White House is intensifying its effort to bar Harvard University from enrolling international students. This was a major escalation of Trump’s war with Harvard, in which he has frozen the school’s federal funding. More broadly, the US has slashed funding for the sciences. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also threatened to aggressively cancel Chinese students’ visas. Could all this prompt a brain drain from the US? Recent developments in the US would compromise its human capital for sure. Restricting international students would hamper the talent pool for US graduate schools. About half of US STEM PhDs are conferred on international students. While overseas applications for graduate student or postdoctoral positions in the US from China and Europe are decreasing, more American students are exploring academic options abroad. If the intention for such restrictions is to slow China’s technological progress, it is perhaps too late. Since 1978, around 8 million Chinese students cumulatively have gone abroad for education, with more than 80 per cent of them reportedly returning. Some of them are teaching at universities in mainland China or Hong Kong. Now, Chinese students can obtain world-class education domestically. There are options outside the US. Among the top 20 universities for engineering and technology globally, seven – including two of the top five – are in the US. But there are top-ranked schools in Europe and Asia. Restrictions in the US will just direct talented minds elsewhere. The UK has displaced the US as the preferred destination for Chinese students. Besides other traditional destinations such as Australia and Canada, mainland Chinese students may also choose from Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, Singapore and Hong Kong. With opportunities diminished and doors closed in the US, some scientists and academics are going elsewhere. Europe could offer a haven even if salaries are lower than those in the US. The European Union has launched a €500 million (US$571.3 million) initiative to attract researchers. Singapore and Hong Kong offer highly competitive compensation. Many top academics and researchers of Chinese descent are returning to China. In drawing academics, Hong Kong offers a unique combination of world-class rankings, competitive compensation, international openness and access to resources in China. Universities in Hong Kong have set up campuses in Guangdong province, overcoming the city’s space limitations. Why not go a step further? Just as some American universities have expanded overseas, why can’t Hong Kong universities set up campuses in Asia, the Middle East and Europe, perhaps with Beijing’s financial backing and in partnership with leading universities in mainland China? There is a great appetite for overseas education in China. Why can’t some of that demand be met by top Chinese institutions operating overseas? Further, some researchers from other countries may hesitate to study in China, but they might more readily seek world-class research environments and generous funding made available in Bali, Dubai or Budapest. For much of the 19th century until the early 20th century, German research universities led the world. Americans pursued advanced education in Germany. Through a range of institutional innovations and private philanthropy, American universities rose rapidly by the early 20th century, accelerated by significant government funding during the Cold War. Importantly, the brain drains from Germany triggered by Nazi suppression delivered marked gains to the US. Similar dynamics are unfolding in the US. Two Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni embody America’s capacity for both embracing and rejecting talented individuals from abroad. Eminent economist Stanley Fischer passed away last month in Lexington, Massachusetts. Born in Zambia when it was called Northern Rhodesia, Fischer came to the US for his PhD in economics at MIT and became a professor there. He served in senior positions at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. After Fischer served as the governor of the Bank of Israel, he was appointed the vice-chair of the US Federal Reserve. No questions were raised about any conflicting loyalties between the two countries. Another MIT alumnus, Qian Xuesen – who was a professor at both MIT and Caltech – had a different life trajectory. After working on the Manhattan Project and attaining the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel in the US, Qian was stripped of his security clearance and subjected to partial house arrest for five years. He was deported to China in 1955, never to return to the US again. After making great contributions to missile, space and other scientific programmes in China, Qian passed away in Beijing in 2009. The contrasting destinies of Fischer and Qian cannot be attributed merely to different historical moments decades apart. The forces that shaped their different fates – geopolitical tensions intertwined with deeper sociocultural currents – may be recurrent. Is McCarthyism really behind us or are we seeing another incarnation? As the US retreats from its historic role as a global talent magnet, China faces an unprecedented strategic opportunity. China should marshal its economic strength to create internationally networked academic and research platforms that transcend national boundaries – ushering in a new era of borderless intellectual collaboration.

US crackdowns on academia will only send global talent elsewhere

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The Trump administration’s war on international students need not impede efforts to create research platforms that transcend borders

The Trump administration’s war on international students need not impede efforts to create research platforms that transcend borders