Because WWI and Nazi Germany drove the best scientists from Europe to the US?
Why the United States has the best research universities
41–50 of 262 posts
Re: Why the United States has the best research universities
#42Because they have the most money.
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considering how most[1] of the best scientists from most countries eventually immigrate to the US, the reverse is true
1. Probably, based on nobel prizes https://cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/teaser/19646.jpeg
Re: Why the United States has the best research universities
#43Research 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…
Citation needed? Never heard or noticed any bias like this before.
Have you heard of Bell Labs?
Re: Why the United States has the best research universities
#44Research 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…
> US-based. Fields, Nobel, Turing,
How many of these were actually educated in the US, as in from primary school, and how many came to the US to complete a PhD after having received an education outside of the US?
Re: Why the United States has the best research universities
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
I think that is mostly compensated by bachelors taking an additional year.
I don't know if what parent comment says is true at all, but if it is I think it's because historically universities didn't have a Bachelor's/Masters system in Europe. At least in Germany and the Netherlands you would study for 5 years and that is still the expectation. For less academically inclined students there are other options such as trade schools.
Re: Why the United States has the best research universities
#46The US has the best research universities in part because it's socially accepted, even expected, to call anything remotely good "the best" over here. People are a bit more restrained elsewhere. For universities, they're admittedly the best by several objective measures too, but the willingness for self-promotion helps :)
This rings true... there’s a tendency to exaggerate or maximalize in the US, certainly at least in the commercial realm.
In this vein [but slightly off topic], can anyone point me to high profile megacap EU startups? The only one that comes to mind is Spotify. I was speaking with some people the other day and probably due to a NA centric focus we were at a lack of well branded EU starts up that had made it similar to US ones.
Re: Why the United States has the best research universities
#47“Best universities” according to which measure? I find it super difficult to come up with a hard set of criteria that measure the performance of an educational institution. Number of graduates? Number of research papers published? Amount of grant income? Can all be gamed. Strength of character and depth of personality of graduates would be a good metric, but is impossible to measure.
Arguably, "strength of character and depth of personality" is something inherent to the people, not something they get in or from a university.
So if you could such a metric, it would reflect which university manages to attract the best highschoolers, not which university is best at educating them (i.e. which university is likely to improve you most should you choose to go there) or producing research results.
Re: Why the United States has the best research universities
#48Lets 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.
Having studied and worked in universities in the US, France, Russia, the UK, and Japan, this is closest to my experience. US universities like Harvard have a ton of money that they can throw around in order to get the best researchers. The one downside for professors is that since students are often paying so much, they expect a better teaching experience, meaning more lectures, more office hours, more feedback, etc. This is particularly the case in business schools.
Re: Why the United States has the best research universities
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
A bit of an overreaction here? I’m pretty sure it’s ok for people to share their personal observations.
I don’t think so. I’ve seen time and again that it leads to completely unpleasant nationalism flame war. Did anyone read the article at all?
I'm surprised the trajectory of the forum would make you think that way. Also meta-conversation is very dangerous to focus.
Re: Why the United States has the best research universities
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
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?
Didn’t the rise of the US as a superpower mainly came down to financial gains during World War 1?
Certainly helped but that is but one lens to look at it. Another lens is the US is endowed with incredible amounts of natural resources that have been utilized over the last century where as former super powers didn't have that same capability. A gross oversimplifications for sure but part of the equation.