HOW SHOULD THE UNITED STATES RESPOND TO CHINAS INCREASING INVESTMENT IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

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HOW SHOULD THE UNITED STATES RESPOND TO CHINAS
INCREASING INVESTMENT IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY?

• Kathryn Mohrman
• School of Public Affairs Colloquium
• 10 April 2009

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Todays presentation

• U.S. competitiveness
• Chinas competitiveness
• Implications for colleges and universities
• Recommendations for U.S. science and technology
  policy

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• The United States is in danger of losing its
  global predominance in science and technology
• National Academy of Sciences, Rising Above the
  Gathering Storm Energizing and Employing America
  for a Brighter Future (2005)

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• Report calls for significant investments
• K-12 education
• Best and brightest students in STEM fields,
  especially at the graduate level
• More funding for science and engineering research
• Greater attention to innovation
• Blueprint for America COMPETES Act (signed into
  law in 2007)

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International Comparisons
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Taken from NSF Asias Rising Science and
Technology Strength Comparative Indicators for
Asia, the European Union and the United States
NSF Special Report 07-319, August 2007
http//www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf07319/content.cfm
?pubid1874id4
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Taken from NSF Asias Rising Science and
Technology Strength Comparative Indicators for
Asia, the European Union and the United States
NSF Special Report 07-319, August 2007
http//www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf07319/content.cfm
?pubid1874id4
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Taken from NSF Asias Rising Science and
Technology Strength Comparative Indicators for
Asia, the European Union and the United States
NSF Special Report 07-319, August 2007
http//www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf07319/content.cfm
?pubid1874id4
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Taken from NSF Asias Rising Science and
Technology Strength Comparative Indicators for
Asia, the European Union and the United States
NSF Special Report 07-319, August 2007
http//www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf07319/content.cfm
?pubid1874id4
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Chinas competitiveness plan

• 11th Five-Year Plan goal2.5 of GDP by 2010 (and
  GDP is scheduled to increase 400 by 2020)
• 15-year plan for development of science and
  technology in selected fields

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Taken from NSF Asias Rising Science and
Technology Strength Comparative Indicators for
Asia, the European Union and the United States
NSF Special Report 07-319, August 2007
http//www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf07319/content.cfm
?pubid1874id4
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Taken from NSF report Asias Rising Science and
Technology Strength Comparative Indicators for
Asia, the European Union and the United States
NSF Special Report 07-319, August 2007
http//www.nsf.gov/statistics/nsf07319/content.cfm
?pubid1874id4
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Human Capital in Science and Engineering China,
India, U.S.
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Science engineering graduates

• Annual production of engineers, computer
  scientists and IT graduates (2004)
• China 600,000
• India 350,000
• U.S. 70,000
• Rising Above the Gathering Storm, p.16.

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Enrollment by discipline 2004
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Revised statistics

• China India US
• NAS statistics 600,000 350,000
  70,000
• 4-yr degrees CS, IT, eng 351,537 112,000
  137,437
• 1-3 year programs 292,569 103,000
  84,898
• TOTAL 644,106
  215,000 222,335
• Engineering and tech
• degrees per 1 million
• citizens 497 199 758
• Wadhwa, V, et al, Where the Engineers Are,
  Issues in Science and Technology, Spring 2007

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Employment of ST graduates

• Worldwide talent shortage despite growing
  numbers of graduates
• Only 10 of Chinese engineering grads are viewed
  as employable by multinational corporations
• Problems outdated courses, little experience
  with teamwork, lack of loyalty, weak on
  creativity, poor English skills

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Institutional Perspectives
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Case study universities

• China
• Sichuan University (58,764)
• Tianjin University (24,691)
• Beijing Normal University (17,528)
• Peking University (32,014)
• Tsinghua University (25,404)
• U.S.
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology(8,366)
• University of California, Berkeley (34,953)
• University of Michigan (38,833)

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Sources Ministry of Education of China
University Financial Statements 2007 for MIT,
Berkeley, and Michigan.
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985 Project Grant as of Total University
Expenditures 2007
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Table 10.
Sources Ministry of Education of China U.S.
National Science Foundation, Survey of Research
and Development Expenditures at Universities and
Colleges, 2007.
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Sources Ministry of Education of China, Common
Data Set U.S. Department of Education,
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
U.S. National Science Foundation, Survey of
Research and Development Expenditures at
Universities and Colleges
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Sources Science Citation Index 2003 and 2007
Social Science Citation Index 2003 and 2007 Arts
and Humanities Citation Index 2003 and 2007.
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Sources Ministry of Education of China Science
Citation Index Social Science Citation Index
Art and Humanities Citation Index 2007.
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RD Expenditures in U.S. Dollars (using PPP) per
Cited Publication
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Academic Ranking of World Universities(Shanghai
Jiaotong University)
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Implications
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Competitiveness and autonomy

• Philip Altbach (2004) Characteristics of world
  class universities
• Excellence in research
• Good facilities
• Adequate and predictable funding
• Academic freedom, intellectual excitement
• Faculty self-governance
• D.M. Lampton (2008) Free societies have an
  inherent advantage for innovation and creative
  research

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Recommendations from Rising Above the Gathering
Storm

• Increase federal investment in basic research by
  10 each year for 7 years
• High-risk high-payoff research
• Advanced Research Projects-Energy
• Improve teaching in K-12 to raise students
  competitiveness internationally
• Increase of ST college students
• More graduate fellowships in ST
• Tax incentives for innovation
• Public-private collaboration (SEMATECH)

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Stimulus and FY2010 Budget

• Stimulus package
• 21.4B for science and research (NSF, NIH,
  Energy, NASA, NIST, NOAA)
• FY2010 budget proposal
• Double federal support for ST in 10 years
• Support for high-risk promising research
• Triple graduate fellowships in science
• Expand Pell grants and reform student loans
• Prepare and reward effective teachers and
  principals
• Promote reforms in K-12 education

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How worried should we be about Chinas ST
investment?

• Today China is not competitive internationally
• Faculty and students dont stack up as high cited
  scholars and very employable graduates
• But Chinas ambitions are great
• And its not just China

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Recommendations

• Long term strategies
• Clearer priorities
• K-12 education is critical
• Policy changes because they are the right things
  to do for Americanot out of fear of China