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"3. Those people actually employed in research positions in American universities are majority foreign." Even if this was true (which I doubt), that just reinf
by hudibras 11y ago
"3. Those people actually employed in research positions in American universities are majority foreign."
Even if this was true (which I doubt), that just reinforces the article's contention that postdocs aren't paid enough: the jobs are only attractive to foreigners, while Americans have other options.
- bsilvereagle 11y agoAnecdotally, ~50% of the faculty in my department at a large American public university are foreigners. I've been told, but not verified, that if you count dual-citizens, that number gets closer to 65%.
- parennoob 11y ago> I've been told, but not verified, that if you count dual-citizens, that number gets closer to 65%. Why on earth would you group dual citizens in the same category as foreigners? Even if 100% of the faculty are dual citizens (Americans + something else), it would still be 100% American.
- adenadel 11y agoMy guess would be that a large number of dual citizens obtained their citizenship in the course of their scientific work. It speaks to the training problem we have.
- T-A 11y agoBecause realistically, most of those dual citizens started out as foreigners and were eventually naturalized as a consequence of pursuing an academic career in the US.
- omginternets 11y agoBecause many foreign cultures value education more than the U.S., overall.
- omginternets 11y agoBecause many foreign cultures value education more than the U.S., overall.
- hudibras 11y agoAnecdotes are great. Did some digging and found this article from 2012 which says that 38% of researchers in the U.S. are foreigners. http://www.nature.com/news/global-mobility-science-on-the-move-1.11602 http://www.nature.com/news/global-mobility-science-on-the-mo...
- collyw 11y agoGetting a visa to work in academia seems to be way easier than for private sector jobs. (I have ben working in academia in Europe and many people I know finished their PhD's and do postdocs in the states. One friend has changed to working in a company, but says it took nearly a year to get the paperwork sorted).
- robotresearcher 11y agoAnother explanation: More than 95% of people in the world are not American, and good American universities have access to the top talent. If the US is doing a competent job of hiring the best people then the majority of these researchers will not be American-born.
- hudibras 11y agoOr a counter explanation: 1. American colleges are still overwhelmingly the best in the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_Ranking_of_World_Universities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_Ranking_of_World_Univ... 2. 96% of students at American colleges are American. http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2014/11/17/number-of-international-college-students-continues-to-climb http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/2014/...
- robotresearcher 11y agoHow does that explain the large numbers of foreign researchers?