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I disagree with you, however one aspect of the continental European model that I admire is the close integration between post-secondary education and industry.
by vzidex 6y ago
I disagree with you, however one aspect of the continental European model that I admire is the close integration between post-secondary education and industry. One of my cousins - who studied and now lives in Germany - did his Masters and PhD on the topic of work he was doing while working at <large car manufacturer>, where he still works today.
On the other hand, from my understanding such close integration between advanced degrees and industry is less common in North America - to my disappointment.
- MatthiasP 6y agoThis is not as common as you might think. Some universities do closely collaborate with their regional industry, but the vast majority of master thesis have zero practical application, just like in the US.
- zhdc1 6y agoIt generally depends on where the funding comes from, at least from what I've seen. Chairs or individual projects that are funded by industry generally hand walk graduate students through partner-sponsored topics.
- mywittyname 6y agoI feel like engineering and graduate education are linked in the US too. I've worked for many large companies where staff were also Ph.D students using their work as their thesis. Granted, every one of these companies were European, and I worked in R&D labs. But I suspect this is reasonably common in engineering.
- zwieback 6y agoI did graduate work at Fraunhofer in Germany, which straddles academia and industry. It's a model that could be employed more in the US, I think. I work at hp in the US now and we fund a lot of very small projects, effectively paying for some graduate students we like, but nothing at a large scale.