25-04-17: But if we are to attract more top-level international academics, we must improve conditions here in the long term.
American universities have been engines of scientific development from the Second World War onward. Their leading position is the result of dynamic progress, described for instance by Jonathan Cole in The Great American University, and a crucial aspect has been their openness to talent from all over the world. At times, they have served as a sanctuary. It’s typical that in the early spring of 1933, when Albert Einstein was a visiting professor at the California Institute of Technology, the Gestapo is said to have broken into his family’s apartment in Berlin. Einstein, already a celebrity at the time, eventually became an American citizen and was affiliated with the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.
Now that the U.S. presidential administration is directing aggressive measures at the university sector, this understandably causes both concern and anger. At the same time, a discussion has arisen about the possibility of attracting talent from American universities to Europe and Sweden. As an opportunity to seize—almost a scramble where you need to act fast.
The discussion seems heavily coloured by the frosty political relations between the U.S. and Europe, but I hope it can spark a broader understanding that the academic world is a highly competitive international arena. This could make it easier to discuss the conditions at Swedish universities. Anyone familiar with Chalmers’ group strategy will instantly recognise this as one of its fundamental elements: the ability to attract and retain talent.
We must be able to match the conditions offered at other institutions. This includes approaching comparable salary levels, but also the ability to conduct research with long-term prospects, to take academic risk, and of course the possibility of creating a reasonable life situation overall: What does the social security system look like? What are the job opportunities for accompanying family members? How easy is it to integrate into Swedish society at large? Gender equality and our Nordic core values in leadership and corporate culture can be an international competitive advantage.
It is within this complicated set of questions that we must work if we want to improve our position in the competition for talent.
And even if tougher conditions at American universities might now mean that more people consider European universities as an alternative, the changes will likely be relatively marginal for us. If greater change is to occur, we must continue working to build the most attractive and excellent academic environment imaginable. That is exactly what Chalmers’ long-term strategy is all about.
The most serious consequence, as I see it, of the changes in the U.S. is that the world’s engine for academic development risks being weakened. That would be a loss for us all—indirectly, because scientific progress could be hindered, and directly, because we have countless connections and collaborations with American researchers. Let us truly hope it does not come to that.
Martin Nilsson Jacobi, President and CEO of Chalmers University of Technology
Under the headline "President’s perspective" the President and CEO for Chalmers University of Technology, shares his reflections on current topics that concern education, research and utilisation.