The Foreign Student Dilemma

摘要

When the Cold War ended in the early 1990s, many people in the United States were talking about a "new rationale" for federal support of university research in the physical sciences and engineering. The essence of the new rationale was the importance of such research to continued productivity growth in the civilian economy. The discussion took place in the wake of widespread concern about U.S. industrial competitiveness, especially with respect to Japanese high-technology firms. The discussion also took place, however, at a time when it was becoming clear that innovation was alive and well. The Internet, the World Wide Web, broadband data communication, and commercially viable biotechnologies were beginning to have major impacts. In addition, sometimes painful restructuring was beginning to restore the competitiveness of U.S. companies, while at the same time it was becoming evident that the apparent superiority of Japanese industrial practice had been constructed on top of unsustainable financial policies and practices.