3 ms·

"If you want a top-tier university go and buy one" You mean like this? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Abdullah_University_of_Science_and_Technology http://e

• ajross 14y ago
  Pretty much. Though this particular institution is (IMHO) going to have trouble effectively spending that endowment because of the difficulty of recruiting top-tier faculty willing to live in Saudi Arabia. That's a disadvantage that Tokyo or Amsterdam aren't likely to have, so I'd look elsewhere for a good existence proof.
  • a3camero 14y ago
    Oh no, I agree entirely. I'd say this is proof that you can't buy a world class university although time will tell. They haven't been around long enough to establish a reputation.
    • ajross 14y ago
      But there are other data points. Stanford's rise to prominence in the 1960's (people forget that for quite some time it was a tiny college with no notoriety at all) was driven by almost exactly this kind of thing: they came into a huge endowment and embarked on an affirmative program to recruit top-tier talent in a big list of fields. And it worked. Obviously details matter. A university in Riyadh is going to be disadvantaged vs. one in Palo Alto, but the idea that professors can be encouraged to move by big paychecks shouldn't be controversial.
    • rdouble 14y ago
      NYU has been been buying its way up the reputation ladder for the past 15 years.
• jurassic 14y ago
  They just bought Caltech's president.