America’s research universities remain one of our greatest strengths
August 27, 2024UNC Global Affairs
On June 25, U.S. News & World Report released the 2024-2025 global rankings for universities around the world. Of the top 30 institutions, 20 are from the U.S. (up from the previous year) and nine are from the UK, Australia, Singapore and Canada. One university is in China. I am proud to say, too, that UNC-Chapel Hill remains in the top 50.
I speak often to civic organizations, like World Affairs Councils and others, and I never fail to mention these rankings. They, along with similar rankings not based in the U.S., conclusively capture America’s standout strength in higher education.
When I speak, I am often reflecting on America’s place in the world, reviewing the many sources of our strength and how we can preserve them to ensure America’s voice still counts in the years ahead. Even my shortest list of sources of American strengths — our economy, military and network of alliances — is incomplete without our extraordinary ecosystem of research universities.
Universities are central to our preeminence today and our prosperity and security in the future. America’s research universities in particular provide a critical competitive advantage as we face the reemergence of great power competition, most notably from China.
Our universities attract some of the world’s most talented and driven people. As birth rates fall in the U.S. and elsewhere, the importance of American universities as magnets for the world’s most talented people rises. While we would do well to learn from Canada and the UK, which have taken steps to optimize their attractiveness to ambitious, brilliant students looking for a world-class education, America continues to dominate the talent competition precisely because our universities are such a powerful draw.
Our research universities drive innovation and problem-solving, from technological innovations and medical breakthroughs to engineering solutions to critical challenges like the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. They contribute significantly to national security, helping America retain its competitive edge over great power rivals.
When speaking to civic organizations, I ask how the American economy has outperformed other advanced economies. Time again, I return to this truth: our country — home to less than five percent of the world’s population — hosts an overwhelming portion of the world’s top universities.
Without this strength, America’s economy would be less robust and seem less promising. Earlier this year, using data from the Financial Times, Fareed Zakaria demonstrated that our economy has significantly outperformed other advanced economies over the last 20 years. When adjusted for inflation, our GDP per capita has grown more than 25 percent, compared to less than 20 percent for the European Union. What’s more, our economy is poised, according to a consensus that has emerged over the past couple of years, to remain the world’s largest for decades to come.
This overperformance of the American economy cannot, I believe, be fully explained without giving due weight to the contribution of America’s great research universities.
As we begin a new semester here at Carolina, I share this perspective, not only to highlight the good news from U.S. News & World Report, but to respond to a significant decline in support of higher education throughout the U.S.
As the Chronicle of Higher Education recently reported, “Barely half of Americans in a 2022 poll by New America, a Washington think tank, said colleges had a positive effect on the country, a sharp drop from just a few years ago.” A Gallup survey in June drew similar conclusions: “Americans are now nearly equally divided among those who have a great deal or quite a lot of confidence (36%), some confidence (32%), or little or no confidence (32%) in higher education.”
This loss of faith in American universities is, it seems to me, unfounded, and we lose faith in this great source of American strength at our peril.
Why am I so passionate about correcting this narrative? It is partly my own life story.
After earning my Ph.D. from the University of Florida, I began my career as an American diplomat in the Foreign Service. For 34 years, I served in various places and positions, including ambassador to Panamá, deputy chief of mission and acting ambassador at the U.S. embassy in London, and consul general in Northern Ireland and Curaçao. For decades, I represented America abroad, which explains the invitations to speak to globally minded civic organizations, like World Affairs Councils, and also why I often speak about America’s place in the world.
I retired from the Foreign Service in 2019 to serve as UNC-Chapel Hill’s inaugural vice provost for global affairs and chief global officer. I believed then that being part of a leading global public research university like ours would allow me to do more good for society than anywhere else. Five years into this role, I still believe that.
Carolina is a special place. I hope each of us who has the opportunity to be part of this great public institution makes the most of it. American universities, including ours, provide space for the world’s great minds — the world’s solvers of grand challenges — to convene, innovate and generate real, meaningful change.
American universities have untapped potential to ensure the very best of our days are ahead of us. May we begin this new school year with reinvigorated pride and renewed purpose, committed to making the most of our national treasure.