stellable.ru/meditations/brain-drain
Decolonizing STEM has been a popular topic among elite universities in recent weeks.
It’s unclear what exactly that entails, besides giving more admissions slots to wealthy international students to increase diversity. It’s an attempt by academics to participate in the trend of inclusive social change, it seems; the irony of elite institutions in Western countries that serve as gatekeepers of knowledge for the system of oppression trying to oppose colonialism is lost on the esteemed scholars seeking social approval.
Decolonizing STEM, and decolonizing academia in general requires thinking outside of all such short term concerns as nationalism, and the short term fate of our society.
Why is it that nearly all the top universities in the world should be located in the United States, and a handful of other wealthy countries in the West?
In the long run, though, more talented students studying in countries like India, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia instead of emigrating to the US will strengthen the institutions there. More research will be done in universities in those countries, which will lead to more funding and resources and a higher quality of education becoming available there, and more talented graduates entering the workforce, helping their societies develop and their nations advance. And eventually, those universities will grow to be able to contribute to research and technology as much as the universities in wealthy countries that are currently seen as being superior.
Decolonizing STEM has been a popular topic among elite universities in recent weeks.
It’s unclear what exactly that entails, besides giving more admissions slots to wealthy international students to increase diversity. It’s an attempt by academics to participate in the trend of inclusive social change, it seems; the irony of elite institutions in Western countries that serve as gatekeepers of knowledge for the system of oppression trying to oppose colonialism is lost on the esteemed scholars seeking social approval.
Decolonizing STEM, and decolonizing academia in general requires thinking outside of all such short term concerns as nationalism, and the short term fate of our society.
Why is it that nearly all the top universities in the world should be located in the United States, and a handful of other wealthy countries in the West?
In the long run, though, more talented students studying in countries like India, Nigeria, and Saudi Arabia instead of emigrating to the US will strengthen the institutions there. More research will be done in universities in those countries, which will lead to more funding and resources and a higher quality of education becoming available there, and more talented graduates entering the workforce, helping their societies develop and their nations advance. And eventually, those universities will grow to be able to contribute to research and technology as much as the universities in wealthy countries that are currently seen as being superior.
