This reason the wrong classification of Harvard 33rd

Aasian time where the France wants to develop "best universities of the world", the review published by the National Science Foundation (NSF) American makes sense. First teaching: the large campus transatlantic too suffered from the economic crisis. In 2008, $ 51.9 billion were injected in academic research, against 49.5 billion in 2007, and 47.7 billion in 2006, source of funding. The cash comes from the three major channels that irrigate traditionally academic research in the United States: Federal funds (60.2), institutional funding from foundations and self-financing (20) and local allocations provided by the States and municipalities (6.5).

Contrary to widely prevalent in France, financing private companies are very marginal and have remained relatively constant over time: approximately 5.5 of the total. University Johns Hopkins (private), which was injected in 2008 approximately 1.6 billion in research, they reached 39 million in 2008, or 2.3 of the total.

American University Research therefore works mainly with institutional allocations made for the most part by large agencies or scientific departments: NIH for health ($17 billion), Nasa space and engineering (1 billion), NSF (3.7 billion) and Department of Defense (3 billion) in basic science... But these amounts did not fairly irrigate the University fabric, far from it. According to the usual rule of the American system, only the best have a chance to benefit from $ pump actuated by Washington.

Calls for projects

The country has approximately 4,200 institutions of higher education (public and private). The overwhelming majority of these campus only education by ensuring short and highly professionalized formations. According to the NSF, only 690 campus show a measurable research activity. But in reality, barely 50 universities hold the top of the keypad and trustent the bulk of federal funding. These amounts are attributed in almost all according to the procedure of the appeal to competitive projects. These incentives ("grants") endowments, Fund renewable three or four year research programs and support the salaries of researchers. Major universities compete hard large scientific signatures "winners of grants. In passing, they collect a comfortable toll ("overheads", or dower) which can reach 50 of the amount.

According to the analyses of the NSF, about 80 of the research appropriations distributed by agencies are ventilated through calls to projects that are standard in the anglo-saxon world. Unlike other wisdom, this "cockpit" is not detrimental to the quality of the work, as evidenced by the number of Nobel Prize and dé-crochés by us science publications.

The list of recipients includes the accustomed to the first places of international rankings (Shanghai, Times Higher Education). The champion is the Johns Hopkins University, with more than 1.6 billion injected in the search in 2008. But this total is distorted by the establishment of an important federal laboratory which receives nearly half of this sum. The private University leads a platoon of 5 public universities: San Francisco, Madison, Michigan, Los Angeles and San Diego. Stanford is twelfth (688 million dollars), fifteenth Cornell (653 million) and eighteenth Berkeley (591 million).

Priority in the life sciences

However, these figures are approximate, many universities do not precisely identifying their research spending. This reason the wrong classification of Harvard (33rd). Despite the financial crisis, the campus of Boston has a mattress of financial resources of at least $ 20 billion from its investment fund.

The life sciences are clearly the darlings of the public agencies: more than 18.6 billion in 2008, 10.7 billion for medical sciences and 6.3 billion for fundamental biology. The Ministry of health (HHS) is very far the first funder of the "strategic" by Washington deemed discipline. Next to the steamroller of health, other disciplines are pale. Approximately $ 4.7 billion for engineering, 2.7 billion for physics and 1.8 billion for the environment.