I find it kind of amusing that it's the UK suggesting this "merger." Because, gentle reader, every year the annual global universities rankings come out (I post on it every year), and every year GUESS WHO'S ON TOP, BABY. Yes, the hated Americans!
Reliably, American universities dominate the charts. Only 2 British universities can consistently match or surpass the US Nerd Juggernaut, and those are Oxford and Cambridge. That's the cold hard truth, as is my statement that I don't know how much longer they can keep it up. As for Oxford: I've spoken with various Oxford nerds, and they all seem to agree: the place has problems of many kinds. (Some of them arise from the culture of the place and its various exclusionary hierarchies and arcane, obsolete mental blinders. I've been to Oxford on nerd business, and I came out of there frankly so happy to be an American nerd. That's all I'm going to say.)
In general: Europe's -- and the UK's -- universities are in trouble, and we've known this for a long time. In too many cases, famous universities are coasting on their names, not on their actual current quality. (Of course, this is true in the US too.)
Remember too how many talented British scholars (both students and faculty) leave the UK to come to the States. I've told you before about the great diaspora. There already IS "cooperation" -- of a sort: UK scholars are coming here. Add too the fact that international students flock to the US more than to the UK -- something the news story admits.
A final thought: maybe schools overall would be more effective and competitive if they were -- oh, I don't know, let's say something crazy and heretical here -- focused on teaching instead of social engineering and/or political activism and/or the Unholy Grail known as "Tenure."
4 comments:
I considered grad school in the UK/ Ireland, but I'd have to pay non-EU citizen rates, which are exceedingly prohibitive, and they give hardly any financial aid.
I still think it would be fun to be a researcher or post-doc over there for a year, as long as I just had living expenses to worry about. Of course, the main reason I think that is because I drool over the thought of a year spent taking weekends and breaks to travel around Europe.
"I'd have to pay non-EU citizen rates, which are exceedingly prohibitive, and they give hardly any financial aid."
That's it exactly. Same reason why some nerd friends and I stayed right here in the US of A. does it help to be independently wealthy to do grad school in Europe? I guess!
The reason why American universities are on top of the list is because how much they cost.
Of course if you have all the money in the world you can afford the better Tutors/Teachers etc ...
Remember Oxford and Cambridge tuition fees are 3300 British Pounds a year for EU Citizens, that's nothing.
BTW: Most universities in the EU are free.
The cost alone is absolutely no indication of actual quality.
Then again, if we go with your thesis, the axiom "you get what you pay for" comes into play with those "free" EU unis.
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