Academic Capitalism and Brain Circulation

1
Academic Capitalism and Brain Circulation

• Some Evidence Relating to
• the Canada Research Chair Program

2
Canada Research Chair Program an overview

• In 2000, the Government of Canada created a
  permanent program to establish 2,000 research
  professorships (Canada Research Chairs) in
  Canadian universities.
• The Canada Research Chairs program invests 300
  million per year to attract and retain some of
  the worlds most accomplished and promising
  minds.
• to attract and retain excellent researchers in
  Canadian universities
• to improve universities capacity for generating
  and applying new knowledge
• to strengthen the training of highly qualified
  personnel
• and to optimize the use of research resources
  through strategic planning.
• As of November 2010, a total of 1,845 Canada
  Research Chair positions were filled, among whom
  546 chairholders were recruited from abroad,
  including 344 from the US.

3
CRC Recruitment origin by year, 2000-08

• Source CRCP, 2009a

4
Canada Research Chair Program a comparative view

• Presidential Young Investigator Award (CAREER)
  and Presidential Early Career Awards for
  Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) (USA, offering
  funding up to 640,000 over a 5-year period for
  junior researchers)
• Federation Fellowship Program (Australia,
  221,261 annum)
• Marie Curie Program (EU, 410,161 annum)
• Humboldt Research Awards (Germany, valued at
  60,000 EUR over 1-year period)
• One Hundred Talent Program (450,000 over 3-year
  period) Cheung Kong Scholar Program (200,000
  over 3-year period), Thousand Talent Program
  (450,000 startup 100,000 annum) (China)

5
Research Design the sample
Province Tier Tier Research Council Research Council Research Council Gender Gender Total
I II NSERC SSHRC CIHR Male Female
Alberta 1 2 2 1 2 1 3
BC 1 3 2 2 2 2 4
Ontario 4 7 8 3 11 11
Quebec 2 2 2 2
Total 6 14 14 2 4 17 3 20
6
The Research Questions

• What was the deciding factor in your decision to
  accept your current position? What single factor
  do you appreciate most about your current
  position, your institution, and Canada?
• What single factor do you appreciate least about
  your current position, your institution, and
  Canada?
• After the term of your current appointment, will
  you stay in your institution or in Canada?
• What ideas, perspectives and values that draw
  upon Chinese epistemological or cultural
  traditions can you bring into your academic work
  or disciplinary field? To what extent can they
  contribute to a greater diversity of academic
  thought and discourse in Canada?

7
Research Findings the pro factors

• Most feel drawn to Canadas multicultural
  environment, which is especially important to
  their families and kids
• Most Tier II CRCs appreciate Canadas sort of
  egalitarian approach to resource
  distributionmost people have some, though not
  much. Those in their early career stage would
  benefit most from such an approach.
• The Canadian approach allows longer term planning
  for career/academic development, while the
  American approach is dominated by the funding
  agencies and the market, which expect much
  quicker turnaround.
• Canadian universities pay more attention to
  teaching, while teaching counts little in
  American universities.
• The values of Canadian society stand between the
  capitalist and the socialist, which appeal to
  those from China.
• Basically there are few push factors in the
  Canadian context, so whether or not to stay
  depends largely on pull factors from other
  systems.

8
Notable Responses (1)

• CRC and NSERC programs encourage you have long
  term planningThis is particularly important for
  interdisciplinary researchIt would be risky if
  you have to write a report every year as in the
  US, spend a lot of time writing proposals for one
  year ahead at a time. (Interview with a Tier I
  CRC recruited from within university)
• In the US, researchers routinely spent 1/3 to
  1/2 of their time to write proposalsEven though
  you get grants, you have little time to do
  research, but have to hire others to do it while
  you look more like a research managerThe
  Canadian approach helps to overcome downturns in
  ones career. Everyone could experience ups and
  downs in research. If your area is not popular
  any more, it is hard for you to get any funding
  in the US. (Interview with a Tier II CRC
  recruited from a US research institute)

9
Notable Responses (2)

• The core of Canadian values is about peace and
  sustainability (which I initially misinterpreted
  as mediocrity and attempting nothing).
  Similarly the current practice of CRC program
  works well to achieve the synergy between the
  individual and the institution. Research is a
  conversation between human and nature, and
  directed by heart, not just brain. Valuable
  breakthroughs often come from passionateness, not
  pressure. In this sense, the American highly
  competitive environment works well for
  technological innovations, but not necessarily
  for discoveries in sciences. (Interview with a
  Tier II CRC recruited from within Canada)
• The less competitive environment in Canada
  allows you to pick up those problems that require
  very deep thinking, while you have to rush in the
  States where people tend to have a utilitarian
  mentalityhuman ideas are hard to judge in their
  initial stage. (Interview with a Tier I CRC
  recruited from within Canada)

10
Research Findings the con factors

• Canadian culture doesnt favour crazy minds,
  which are needed for discovery. Instead, it
  encourages a step-by-step approach.
• Canadian egalitarian approach may impede the
  opportunity for more competitive researchers to
  get large amount of funds. The CRC title itself
  sometimes becomes a hindrance for more funds.
• Internationalization and diversity of faculty are
  more common in the American universities, as the
  consequence of open competitions, especially in
  the science and engineering fields, while the
  Canadian universities tend to hire more Canadians
  or Canadian educated faculty.
• Networking and politics are more important in the
  Canadian context.
• The CRC position is not sufficient to keep me
  here.

11
Notable Responses (3)

• The Canadian relaxed environment is only good
  for the few geniuses but most people would need
  pressureIn the US, senior professors cannot go
  to sleepfeeling the threat that young scholars
  will overtake themIn Canada, there is no
  incentive or encouragement systemdifferent from
  China, Japan, Korea and also the US. In the US, a
  major discovery, a paper in Nature or Science,
  will get a letter from the president of the
  university, but here no recognition, sometimes
  even have to hide itI have a sense of a ceiling
  phenomenon herecannot go to a higher level
  (Interview with a Tier I CRC recruited from a
  major US research university)
• This is only relevant for research, but good for
  keeping nice teachers in the universityAmericans
  spend more time on researchhere more on
  teaching. (ibid.)

12
Notable Responses (4)

• Egalitarianism is overstressed in Canada. As a
  result, it doesnt make a difference to perform
  well or not so well. Sometimes you even have to
  downgrade a bit your own pursuit and
  accomplishmentFor this reason a colleague
  here, who is French and a Tier I CRC, has,
  however, chosen to leave. (Interview with a Tier
  II CRC recruited from within university)
• There should be a screening of the promising
  projects which should then be qualified for extra
  funding. The current practice is to let everyone
  finish the term, like the iron bowl in the past
  China. Even the CRCs annual evaluation report
  has never got any feedback. (Interview with a
  Tier II CRC recruited from a Singaporean research
  institute)

13
Notable Responses (5)

• Asian view, like yinyang, is less reductionist,
  and tolerate of oppositesI am interested in
  things that are different. (Interview with a
  Tier I CRC recruited from a major US research
  university)
• Canadian colleagues can identify different
  angles from a single issue, while the Chinese,
  once they identify an issue, can go very deep,
  and try to trace back to the rootInterdisciplinar
  y research has a lot to do with breadth. While
  most others just talk, but for me, I see the deep
  issues, and go to depth. (Interview with a Tier
  I CRC recruited from within university)

14
Cf. CRC Experience at Large (Grant and Drakich,
2010, p.28)
15
Analytical Framework

• Academic factors Academic Capitalism
  Continental Divide
• Academic capitalism describes the phenomenon of
  university facultys increasing attention to
  market potential as an impetus for research. This
  places faculty in the position of having to
  anticipate the vagaries of the market. (Slaughter
  and Leslie, 1997)
• Research has become less curiosity-driven and
  more market-driven. In this process, systems that
  somehow manage exceptionalism to academic
  capitalism, like Canada, may experience brain
  gain.
• In contrast to the emphasis on individual rights
  in the United States, the Canadian tradition was
  one of emphasis on social order and the
  collective good, and to some degree, group
  rightsthe United States emphasizes equality of
  opportunity while Canada emphasizes equality of
  results (Skolnik, 1990, pp. 82 86).
• the greater materialistic orientation of the
  United States than of Canada (Skolnik, 1990, p.
  86)
• The greater emphasis on accountability for public
  funds in the US higher education (Barak, 1982
  Skolnik, 1990).

16
Analytical Framework (contd.)

• Social cultural factors Canadas Social
  Cohesion patterns leaning towards the Social
  Market Regime vs. Americanism featuring Liberal
  Regime of Social Cohesion
• Its major principles stemming from the blended
  traditions of French republicanism (statism) and
  Christian Democracy (emphasizing social order and
  collective gooddependence of liberty on order)
• It resonates the Confucian Regime in many ways!
• Americanism had necessarily to be defined in
  terms of ideology rather than community as was
  originally the case with Canada. Thus, to reject
  American values is un-American, whereas the
  tolerance of value deviation is possible or even
  common in Canada.
• Chinese epistemological tradition has always
  featured pluralism unity with diversity.
• Personal factors Cultural Capital the cultural
  background, knowledge, disposition, and skills
  that are passed from one generation to the next.
  More specifically, cultural capital refers to the
  different linguistic and cultural competencies
  that individuals inherit from their families.
  These competencies may include modes of thinking,
  sets of meanings, and types of dispositions that
  are accorded a certain social value and status as
  a result of what the dominant class or classes
  label as the most valued cultural capital.

17
Discussions Recommendations

• A certain degree of exceptionalism from academic
  capitalism appears to have helped Canadian
  universities to lure star researchers
  internationally, in particular the rising stars.
  Then, there is a need to address the emerging
  dilemma between the relatively non-competitive
  culture and the pressing demand for Canadian
  systems global competitiveness.
• The egalitarian culture/approach in Canadian
  universities needs to integrate elements of
  incentives and meritocracy when dealing with
  research stars. CRC Program is elite per se and
  thus should carry on some differentiated
  practices, e.g., providing more research
  resource, more course release, applying more
  competitive screening process.

18
CRC Allocation of Funds (CRCP, 2009a)

• 2002-03

• 2007-08

19
Chairs Success Rate, since start to June 2009
Approved Not Approved Success Rate
NSERC 1154 148 88.6
CIHR 850 83 91.1
SSHRC 567 70 89.0
TOTAL 2571 301 89.5

• Source CRCP, 2009b

20
Discussions Recommendations (contd.)

• Canadas multiculturalism is an iconic attraction
  to international talent, and further research
  needs to be done to shed light on more
  substantial match between its core value, and the
  different cultural and epistemological traditions
  of the international faculty, which, in turn, may
  help to expand and enhance the diversity of
  academic thought and discourse in Canadian
  academia.
• All respondents reported benefitting most from
  collaboration with China in terms of being able
  to bring in some of the brightest Chinese
  students, with help of a pre-screening process,
  i.e., internationalization of faculty
  contributing to and optimizing internationalizatio
  n of students.

21
References

• Barak, R.J. (1982). Program Review for Higher
  Education Within and Without. Boulder National
  Center for Higher Education Management Systems.
• Canada Research Chairs Program (2009a). Canada
  Research Chairs Review 2007-2008. Ottawa, Canada
  CRCP.
• Canada Research Chairs Program (2009b). Canada
  Research Chairs Information Session ppt.
  Edmonton, AB University of Alberta.
• Grant, K.R. and Drakich, J. (2010). The Canada
  Research Chairs Program the good, the bad, and
  the ugly. Higher Education, 59 21-42.
• Skolnik, M. (1990). Lipsets Continental Divide
  and the Ideological Basis for Differences in
  Higher Education between Canada and United
  States. The Canadian Journal of Higher Education,
  Vol. XX-2, 81-93.
• Slaugher, S. and Leslie, L. (1997). Academic
  capitalism Politics, policies, and the
  entrepreneurial university. Baltimore Johns
  Hopkins University Press.