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A message from President Kornbluth about funding and the talent pipeline

president.mit.edu

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Re: A message from President Kornbluth about funding and the talent pipeline

#91

Post by jryio »

Ifkaluva wrote: post #60
jryio wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A brain drain means the intelligent population emigrates to other countries. The narrative and data do not support Americans going abroad. I think you're referring to a lack of competitive education for those coming outside of America and choosing Europe / China to study. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_capital_flight

I think you’ve got it backwards. MIT used to be brain-draining China, India, Iran, Europe, etc into schools like MIT. The lower numbers mean this is happening less. There are likely multiple factors: becoming less attractive, their domestic options becoming more attractive, more aggressive immigration posture, etc

If you "drain" something the subject of the verb is what is being drained not where it is draining to.

Re: A message from President Kornbluth about funding and the talent pipeline

#92

Post by deepsun »

Except for 8% tax on endowment returns, that sounds fair to me, no? US universities got it very cozy: federal subsidies, admission income, donations, AND investment income. Like Harvard buying very expensive vineyard land (in Napa valley California) using excess cash.

Re: A message from President Kornbluth about funding and the talent pipeline

#93

Post by busterarm »

andix wrote: post #21
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, it’s called a brain drain and it’s why until recently America held a vice grip on groundbreaking research and its commercialization.

The people decided that this sucks and have spoken. Dear god, make America stupid again!

So you're suggesting our systems should be less democratic, then?

Maybe opposing points of view should pick better candidates that will actually win elections. That's how it works, right?

Re: A message from President Kornbluth about funding and the talent pipeline

#94

Post by jryio »

tuckerman wrote: post #64
jryio wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A brain drain means the intelligent population emigrates to other countries. The narrative and data do not support Americans going abroad. I think you're referring to a lack of competitive education for those coming outside of America and choosing Europe / China to study. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_capital_flight

They are saying the opposite. People have been coming to America for higher education and staying here and that has historically benefited the US. And that seems to be changing.

I am also saying the same thing. They are commenting that the flight of human capital was coming from abroad and is no longer.

However that's not what brain drain means. You would say "Iran had a brain drain in the 70s" not "America was brain draining Iran" makes no sense.

Re: A message from President Kornbluth about funding and the talent pipeline

#95

Post by j_maffe »

epolanski wrote: post #48
mrhottakes wrote: post #8

Good. The US is reaping what it sows, and other research institutions will become the new leaders. Stinks for Americans, but the world will be better off overall.

When there's less competition and opportunities for talent the whole community, globally, is impacted. There's really nothing good about it.

That's very funny because up until very recently there was very little competition because one nation was dominating research using talents from other countries. Consider it as a weakening of a monopoly

Re: A message from President Kornbluth about funding and the talent pipeline

#96

Post by slg »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #16
htrp wrote: post #5

MIT Current Graduate Student are 41% international. https://facts.mit.edu/enrollment-statistics/

Yup, it’s called a brain drain and it’s why until recently America held a vice grip on groundbreaking research and its commercialization.

Historians looking back at this era are going to struggle to understand why we made the decisions we did.

Re: A message from President Kornbluth about funding and the talent pipeline

#97

Post by JumpCrisscross »

jryio wrote: post #91
Ifkaluva wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you’ve got it backwards. MIT used to be brain-draining China, India, Iran, Europe, etc into schools like MIT. The lower numbers mean this is happening less. There are likely multiple factors: becoming less attractive, their domestic options becoming more attractive, more aggressive immigration posture, etc

If you "drain" something the subject of the verb is what is being drained not where it is draining to.

Brain drain is a noun. In the context of American research universities, it’s historically been used one way because that was the direction of the drain.

Re: A message from President Kornbluth about funding and the talent pipeline

#98

Post by keeganpoppen »

xhkkffbf wrote: post #29

This is actually good news for society as a whole. There are way too many people who spend time in grad school only to discover that society doesn't have a job for them. Yes, it's not nice for the people who don't get in, but there's been way too much overproduction.

this might be true, but certainly isn't/shouldn't be true for MIT graduates. if you own a business of any kind, hiring an MIT grad is basically never a bad decision.

Re: A message from President Kornbluth about funding and the talent pipeline

#99

Post by JumpCrisscross »

slg wrote: post #96
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup, it’s called a brain drain and it’s why until recently America held a vice grip on groundbreaking research and its commercialization.

Historians looking back at this era are going to struggle to understand why we made the decisions we did.

Eh, do we struggle with Caligula? He’s seen as he was—a joke. I imagine this era will be seen similarly unless we manage to capstone the era with nukes.

Re: A message from President Kornbluth about funding and the talent pipeline

#100

Post by fastaguy88 »

Tsarp wrote: post #39
htrp wrote: post #5

MIT Current Graduate Student are 41% international. https://facts.mit.edu/enrollment-statistics/

Would be nice to see if this number dipped from before. International students typically end up paying out of station tuition and is a huge source of income for the univs.

This is not true for PhD programs in top-ranked institutions. It may have been true 20+ years ago, but today it is very difficult to buy your way into a graduate program.
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