Even comparing apples to apples (population wise), i.e. California vs. Canada, there is a factor of 2x more universities in California (at least according to Wikipedia). If that scales to the rest of the US, it means that there are ~ 20x more universities in the US.
Ragib Hasansays:
Interesting. This brings another question: do you reward the best people, or do you equally distribute the reward to everyone?
I think the US model is designed to increase competition. If all 30 or so research universities were equal, would anyone go the extra effort to get into one? I mean, you’d have lowered the bar to make all these schools equal … this applies not to college/grad school applicants, but also to faculty job seekers. I am not saying that model is better than the Canadian model … but competition often forces people to strive harder.
The 9-month professorship in US is, of course, a bit awkward. But then again, this allows professors to diversify their research during the summer months. There isn’t that much teaching to do in summer anyway … at least in U of Illinois, almost everyone, including the grad students, are gone during summer to their internships.
Ragib Hasansays:
@Mikhail Lemeshko,
Well, at least in CS, among the top 10 CS grad schools, half are public (Berkeley, UIUC, Washington, GeorgiaTech, UT-Austin).
I think the US model is designed to increase competition. If all 30 or so research universities were equal, would anyone go the extra effort to get into one? I mean, you’d have lowered the bar to make all these schools equal … this applies not to college/grad school applicants, but also to faculty job seekers. I am not saying that model is better than the Canadian model … but competition often forces people to strive harder.
For instance, in Germany, all universities are supposed to be equal. Of course, they are not, but there is no huge difference between those.
Also, most of research is done in institutes belonging to the Max Planck Society. Being a professor in one of these, you can never apply for grants and feel yourself happy – even doing experiments. At least, there is no problem to pay another student or postdoc: you just hire a suitable person, and the Society pays the salary.
Of course, people building machines for a few millions of euro apply for external funding, which they usually get.
Addressing a comment by Ragib Hasan – I think the reason might be that most of top US schools are private. So, better research means more students and more money, which is not the case in other countries.
Even comparing apples to apples (population wise), i.e. California vs. Canada, there is a factor of 2x more universities in California (at least according to Wikipedia). If that scales to the rest of the US, it means that there are ~ 20x more universities in the US.
Interesting. This brings another question: do you reward the best people, or do you equally distribute the reward to everyone?
I think the US model is designed to increase competition. If all 30 or so research universities were equal, would anyone go the extra effort to get into one? I mean, you’d have lowered the bar to make all these schools equal … this applies not to college/grad school applicants, but also to faculty job seekers. I am not saying that model is better than the Canadian model … but competition often forces people to strive harder.
The 9-month professorship in US is, of course, a bit awkward. But then again, this allows professors to diversify their research during the summer months. There isn’t that much teaching to do in summer anyway … at least in U of Illinois, almost everyone, including the grad students, are gone during summer to their internships.
@Mikhail Lemeshko,
Well, at least in CS, among the top 10 CS grad schools, half are public (Berkeley, UIUC, Washington, GeorgiaTech, UT-Austin).
@Ragib
I think the US model is designed to increase competition. If all 30 or so research universities were equal, would anyone go the extra effort to get into one? I mean, you’d have lowered the bar to make all these schools equal … this applies not to college/grad school applicants, but also to faculty job seekers. I am not saying that model is better than the Canadian model … but competition often forces people to strive harder.
See my latest blog post:
http://www.daniel-lemire.com/blog/archives/2009/07/17/determinants-of-faculty-research-productivity/
Sounds very familiar to the situation in Europe 😉
Also, a typical misconception is that Canada is a big country. Canada has fewer people than California. There is simply not room for a power law!
…not mentioning Europe. 🙂
For instance, in Germany, all universities are supposed to be equal. Of course, they are not, but there is no huge difference between those.
Also, most of research is done in institutes belonging to the Max Planck Society. Being a professor in one of these, you can never apply for grants and feel yourself happy – even doing experiments. At least, there is no problem to pay another student or postdoc: you just hire a suitable person, and the Society pays the salary.
Of course, people building machines for a few millions of euro apply for external funding, which they usually get.
Addressing a comment by Ragib Hasan – I think the reason might be that most of top US schools are private. So, better research means more students and more money, which is not the case in other countries.