Karen, Very interesting indeed. Thank you for finding this.
At 09:14 04/02/03 -0800, you posted: <<<< VISIONS OF EUROPE'S FUTURE By Paul Smaglik Nature jobs editor What would it take to reverse the brain drain that has drawn so many Europeans to work in the United States? Here's a possible scenario. First, the budget for the US National Institutes of Health abruptly ends its five-year doubling trend, leaving research funding more or less flat. The National Science Foundation continues to make modest budgetary gains. But the main result is that few new grants are funded -- unless they are related to biodefence. Meanwhile, European countries raise their commitment to research funding. Foundations and societies launch schemes to lure top talent back home. And governments, businesses and universities combine to create institutions that are funded by, but relatively free from the control of, all three. Far-fetched? Not really. The US factors are close to reality. And the European components are starting to materialize. In this week's instalment of Movers (moved from the back of the journal to a new slot at the front of the Naturejobs section), hints of each factor have contributed to some examples of repatriation. Signs of an increased commitment to science in Britain, a new chemistry facility by Oxford and start-up money from the Royal Society and Wolfson Foundation lured Hagan Bayley from Texas A&M University back to the University of Oxford, where he studied as an undergraduate. But for a true reversal of fortunes, a few more factors must be addressed. European countries need to raise their overall levels of research and development. They also need to offer packages that allow investigators to fund postdocs, graduate students and technicians. And they should promote autonomy -- whether it be freedom to work with industry, or to avoid it. Without those things, repatriation will remain the exception rather than the rule. >>>> Yes, it's a problem and I'm not sure that there's any practical solution. Because of dependance on state support, all of Europe's previously world-class universities have subsided into averageness -- equivalent to most of your state universities in America. In England, the only world class universities that remain to us, Oxford and Cambridge, are also declining rapidly. These two, together with another 10 or so -- a pressure group called Universities UK Ltd -- have been talking about breaking away and setting themselves up with private endowments for some years. They haven't managed it. It's unlikely that they'll do so because welfare-statism is now so deeply imbued. One university, Warwick University may possibly do so. It receives just over half its income from research and royalties. It was started 30 years ago but established its characteristically maverick nature very quickly under the influence of Prof Chris Zeeman (of Chaos Theory fame) who was a personal friend of mine when we were joint Midland organisers of the Social Democratic Party in the 80s. Zeeman was the first academic appointed by the Vice-Chancellor, Butterfield, and he was in charge of recruitment policy thereafter. He concentrated on mathematics, engineering and biochemistry. Of course, all the other usual arts and humanitarian faculties have developed as you might expect, but the emphasis is still strongly on science and engineering and that's where its income comes from. It is possible that Warwick University might become independent from the government and join the only other private university in the country, Buckingham, but even this is doubtful. (Buckingham was also established about 30 years ago but it didn't concentrate on science. Although its standards are high -- higher than most universities in England -- it hasn't managed to attract sufficient private endowment to guarantee its future. However, it may succeed under its new Chancellor, Terence Keealey, a brilliant scientist. We can but hope.) However, little of what Smaglik has written in an otherwise worthy Nature article will actually happen. Harvard and the other 10 or so world-class universities in the US are already beginning to recruit bright people over here at school-leaver age by the use of SATS. It's my view that the serious decline in England of Nobel Prize-winning scientists of the last 10-15 years will continue apace and there'll be few full-blown scientists recruited to America in the future. They'll already be on your side of the pond. Keith Hudson ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ Keith Hudson, General Editor, Handlo Music, http://www.handlo.com 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727; mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://scribe.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
