Monday Briefing: America's Brain Drain and the World

New York Times

a day ago

'A once-in-a-century brain gain opportunity'
Universities are an easy target for right-wing populists. Polls show that a lot of Americans consider them too liberal, too expensive and too elitist, and not entirely without reason. But the fight between the Trump administration and Harvard is something more: It has become a test of the president's ability to impose his political agenda on all 2,600 universities in the U.S. Students, professors and scientists are all feeling the pressure, and that could undermine the dominant position that American science has enjoyed for decades.
What does that mean for the world?
European countries are wooing U.S.-based scientists, offering them 'scientific refuge' or, as one French minister put it, 'a light in the darkness.'
Canada has attracted several prominent American academics, including three tenured Yale professors who study authoritarianism and fascism.
The Australian Strategic Institute described this moment as 'a once-in-a-century brain gain opportunity.'
Who has the secret sauce?
In the mid-20th century, America was seen by many as a benign power, committed to scientific freedom and democracy. It attracted the best brains fleeing fascism and authoritarianism in Europe.
Today, the biggest beneficiary could be China and Chinese universities, which have been trying to recruit world-class scientific talent for years. Now, Trump is doing their work for them. One indication of the success of China's campaign to attract the best and brightest is Africa, the world's youngest continent. Africans are learning Mandarin in growing numbers. Nearly twice as many study in China as in America.
Could America gamble away its scientific supremacy in the service of ideology? It has happened before. Under the Nazis, Germany lost its scientific edge to America in the space of a few years. As a German, my brain may wander too readily to the lessons of the 1930s, but in this case the analogy feels instructive. Several of my colleagues covering the fallout from the crackdown on international students and researchers pointed to Hitler's silencing of scientists and intellectuals.
No one region can currently replicate the secret sauce of resources, freedom, a culture of risk-taking and welcoming immigrants that made America the engine of scientific innovation. But if it tumbles as a scientific superpower, and potential breakthroughs are disrupted, it would be a setback for the whole world. Read these accounts from my colleagues of the ripple effects across the globe.
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