Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Why the United States has the best research universities

aeaweb.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 262 posts

Re: Why the United States has the best research universities

#11

Post by User23 »

aborsy wrote: post #2

Research focus in US and EU seems a bit different. Europe produces a lot of high quality science. Research in US is on the other hand increasingly application-focused (something that EU is not very good at). This is my observation as a former researcher who has experience in both regions; I don’t have references. It’s partly driven by culture, and economic system. The strong public system in Europe supports longer te…

I've noticed EU CS grads are on average much stronger scientifically than US ones. With notable exceptions, the typical US undergraduate curriculum is more of a trade school. That’s fine of course, but definitely not the skillset needed for novel research or even properly applying recent research.

Edit: Apparently I’ve struck a nerve. But this has been my experience working and hiring at two of the FAANGs. The teams doing the most scientifically challenging work are predominantly European educated and the team members that aren’t are from the most elite US institutions.

Re: Why the United States has the best research universities

#12

Post by SeanLuke »

chronic83027 wrote: post #7
ramraj07 wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citation needed? Never heard or noticed any bias like this before.

Look at university research labs, and see where they get their funding from. Companies tend to fund applied research. Funding in Europe, whether academic or industry motivated, is simply lacking across all scientific, engineering, and social science disciplines.

You seriously think that university research in the US is largely funded or driven by companies? This is utterly wrong.

*Edit*. The question is why the united states has the "best research universities". That is a very general-level question and the Parent made a very general, and very wrong, claim in response. Regardless of whether some specific fields might have more industrial funding than others, it's easy to google the overall portion: and industry funding is quite minor.

https://www.aaas.org/sites/default/files/2018-11/UniSource1....

Re: Why the United States has the best research universities

#14

Post by mch82 »

desktopninja wrote: post #6

Lets not fool ourselves. First and foremost the money is here and the business environment (capitalism) is the most favorable than any other region of the world.

It hasn’t always been this way. Prior to the 1900s the wealth was outside the US. Capitalism existed in the world before the US, possibly in more extreme forms. It seems like you’re discounting the possibility the US education system & government contributed to the current economic situation. To what do you attribute the change?

Re: Why the United States has the best research universities

#16

Post by exdsq »

User23 wrote: post #11
aborsy wrote: post #2

Research focus in US and EU seems a bit different. Europe produces a lot of high quality science. Research in US is on the other hand increasingly application-focused (something that EU is not very good at). This is my observation as a former researcher who has experience in both regions; I don’t have references. It’s partly driven by culture, and economic system. The strong public system in Europe supports longer te…

I've noticed EU CS grads are on average much stronger scientifically than US ones. With notable exceptions, the typical US undergraduate curriculum is more of a trade school. That’s fine of course, but definitely not the skillset needed for novel research or even properly applying recent research. Edit: Apparently I’ve struck a nerve. But this has been my experience working and hiring at two of the FAANGs. The teams…

Could this be due to EU universities studying specifically one subject while US universities require credits in other topics like Languages?

Re: Why the United States has the best research universities

#17

Post by bananabiscuit »

systemvoltage wrote: post #5
aborsy wrote: post #2

Research focus in US and EU seems a bit different. Europe produces a lot of high quality science. Research in US is on the other hand increasingly application-focused (something that EU is not very good at). This is my observation as a former researcher who has experience in both regions; I don’t have references. It’s partly driven by culture, and economic system. The strong public system in Europe supports longer te…

I don’t know why anyone should believe you. Can you source some concrete facts if any? This is a provocative comment ready to start flame wars. Please tell specifics and not paint broad brushstrokes to flame the fires. I’m sorry to flag your comment. Edit: One source we can look at the awards given to fundamental research. They’re overwhelmingly US-based. Fields, Nobel, Turing, etc. This contradicts the popular gener…

A bit of an overreaction here? I’m pretty sure it’s ok for people to share their personal observations.

Re: Why the United States has the best research universities

#18

Post by elefanten »

systemvoltage wrote: post #5
aborsy wrote: post #2

Research focus in US and EU seems a bit different. Europe produces a lot of high quality science. Research in US is on the other hand increasingly application-focused (something that EU is not very good at). This is my observation as a former researcher who has experience in both regions; I don’t have references. It’s partly driven by culture, and economic system. The strong public system in Europe supports longer te…

I don’t know why anyone should believe you. Can you source some concrete facts if any? This is a provocative comment ready to start flame wars. Please tell specifics and not paint broad brushstrokes to flame the fires. I’m sorry to flag your comment. Edit: One source we can look at the awards given to fundamental research. They’re overwhelmingly US-based. Fields, Nobel, Turing, etc. This contradicts the popular gener…

The commenter said no references, it seemed like an expression of broad opinion/experience, not like a strong declaration of truth.

Re: Why the United States has the best research universities

#19

Post by 1helloworld1 »

American universities attract the best students from all over the world. For example - at Tandon School of Engineering about 80 percent of graduate students hail from foreign countries - https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/03/education/edlife/american... American academic STEM research is sustained by the constant flow of the best students from all over the world who are willing to spend 12 hours a day for 4-6 years for a meager grad student stipend. Some are actually even willing to pay for the privilege.

Re: Why the United States has the best research universities

#20

Post by ubercore »

SeanLuke wrote: post #12
chronic83027 wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at university research labs, and see where they get their funding from. Companies tend to fund applied research. Funding in Europe, whether academic or industry motivated, is simply lacking across all scientific, engineering, and social science disciplines.

You seriously think that university research in the US is largely funded or driven by companies? This is utterly wrong. *Edit*. The question is why the united states has the "best research universities". That is a very general-level question and the Parent made a very general, and very wrong, claim in response. Regardless of whether some specific fields might have more industrial funding than others, it's easy to goo…

Depending on the field, it can be. Lots of University-affiliated labs in the medical field get significant industry funding.
Post reply on HN