Interesting paper on the reasons for the increasing dominance of American research universities iver the 20th century. TL;DR: tenure and competition for talents. [But I would argue that many European countries have better undergraduate education systems]
Interesting paper on the reasons for the increasing dominance of American research universities iver the 20th century. TL;DR: tenure and competition for talents. [But I would argue that many European countries have better undergraduate education systems]
@ylecun Just wondering: why do you think undergrad in Europe is better? I constantly hear from my German friends that the parity between universities is much smaller than in Canada/USA, but it is often paired with fewer research opportunities in general, overall.
@_sam_sinha_ @ylecun Fewer research opportunities is not really correct, less emphasis I would say. I don’t know anybody who wanted to do research and didn’t get to do it, it is just mostly not seen as necessary, that’s what a PhD is for.
@c_voelcker @_sam_sinha_ @ylecun Agree, you rarely see undergrads or even master students doing research here. Also, a lot of research is done in dedicated research institutes which makes them a little disconnected.
@robinschmidt_ @_sam_sinha_ @ylecun I don’t think that is necessarily a problem though. It is a difference in culture and expectation. The early drive towards research is also, afaik, exclusively an ML (and maybe general CS) phenomenon and has more to do with the sudden pay increase for grad level education in ML.
@c_voelcker @_sam_sinha_ @ylecun Fair point, although Germany not putting much emphasis on this makes it harder for CS grads to compete in international PhD applications / job market since hiring someone with prior published papers seems a lot safer.
@robinschmidt_ @_sam_sinha_ @ylecun Yes, but that, again, is a mismatch in expectation (and industry pay). Most German universities have more openings for PhDs than they can fill. German universities explicitly teach for a German market where PhDs are not as in demand (quote from too many dep meetings 😂)