[HillaryBriss]

the article notes that US universities take 50% of a professor's research grant as operating overhead! (in China it's 10%.)

maybe US universities are just not efficient enough. maybe US universities are basically bloated, government subsidized fat-cats that cannot compete in the global marketplace.

[deong]

The university system was the envy of the world when it was run like a government program. It was only when we started running them like businesses that the system has gone pear-shaped.

[HillaryBriss]

i was going to say "maybe US universities are basically bloated, greedy corporate fat-cats that cannot compete in the global marketplace."

but it raised a question i couldn't answer: how do such unproductive blobs of corporate greed survive at all? i mean, if it's not government subsidies. is it some sort of protectionist regulatory regime (e.g. sort of like the TBTF Wall Street banks enjoy)? some kind of collusion? a secret cartel?

[dnautics]

there's a strong argument that the university system was destroyed when it was started to be run like a government program.

http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/saving-science