Donald Trump’s defunding of scientific research and proposed new charges on migrant labour will not be enough to deter international academics from heading to America given the country’s unparalleled willingness to reward academic talent, a US university president has argued.
Since February 2022 Radenka Maric has served as president of the University of Connecticut, a six-campus public research university with a $3.6 billion (?2.7 billion) annual turnover.
The Bosnian-born engineer is arguably one of the world’s most well-travelled university leaders, having worked in seven countries in a 30-year career, including Japan (where she took her PhD at Kyoto University and worked at Toyota’s material science research division), Canada (where she led the Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation at the National Research Council Canada) and Italy (where she was a visiting professor at Polytechnic University of Milan on a Fulbright Scholarship).
Having joined Connecticut as a Maric was appointed vice-president for research in 2017 and ?– an achievement she believes would not have been possible in any other country.
探花视频
“As someone born in Bosnia without a US college degree, I would never have been made a university president in Japan, Italy or even Canada,” argued Maric, who studied at Belgrade University in Serbia where she later worked as a junior scientist.
“I don’t have that traditional academic pedigree required by some countries. I didn’t study at Harvard – I have a ‘Japanese Harvard’ PhD but who really cares about my Japanese degree – nor have I been a provost or dean at a big US university,” she continued.
探花视频
“But American universities don’t care if you studied in Italy or Serbia – they are only focused on excellence in science and innovation, which means ‘what is your h-index?’, ‘where have you published?’ and ‘how many people have you brought with you on your journey?’,” Maric said.
Despite uncertainty over federal science funding – with several national agencies facing cuts of about 50 per cent to their budgets next year – the academic meritocracy promised by US universities would continue to appeal to international researchers, Maric believed.
“That is what is powerful about American academia. As long as the American dream is there – that people like me can make it on their own merits – then America will be a magnet for talent. Crises will come and go,” she said.
The current uncertainty over funding has undoubtedly caused problems, Maric explained, while there are growing concerns over plans to charge a , up from $7,000 – a move that would make it much more difficult for US universities to employ foreign PhD students or postdocs.
On the likely damage of Trump’s recent higher education policies, Maric said: “It depends how long this lasts but America has a great capacity to resituate itself very quickly. If you compare how the US pivoted after the 2008 financial crisis, it came back much quicker than any other nation.”
探花视频
Despite her evident enthusiasm for her adopted homeland, Maric said she was also inspired by her time in Japan. “This was the 1990s and I was the only woman doing a PhD at Kyoto’s engineering school. I stayed for 12 years there so it wasn’t just the language that I learnt but the culture. There is an immense amount of care in how everything is done so I applied this to my career by thinking ‘how can I improve my skills?’ or ‘how can my research get better?’
“When I was in Japan it was constantly stressed that there was no great science if it didn’t lead to great technology. And there is no great technology without a product, and there is no product without a market,” Maric explains on her approach to applied science (she worked in the field of battery technology for Toyota and later Panasonic) before leaving to join a start-up in Atlanta, Georgia.
“The most important thing about Japan is kata?– a way of doing things in a particular way. There is a natural tendency to do things in a certain way and there is a desire to protect their culture so eventually I knew I had to leave,” reflected Maric on her leap from Toyota to the US start-up world.
探花视频
Recruited to lead a battery fuel research group in Vancouver, Maric eventually headed to Connecticut – an east coast state with long-established defence and manufacturing industries, in which the university now plays a crucial research role.
“Since 2010 the state has been recruiting faculty in renewable and environmental sustainability, including CO2 capture, so I’ve been part of this, but the history of manufacturing goes back to the mid-19th?century when bicycle companies had their first factories in Connecticut,” Maric said.
Her university’s willingness to recruit someone with an eclectic CV – including stints in corporate R&D, academia and start-ups covering three continents – then promote them to the top job is a good example of why American academia will continue to thrive, despite the current challenges, Maric said.
“I am not a traditional person but I was always a hard worker who sought to improve myself and bring people along with me whenever I could. Not many foreigners – whatever their expertise or experience – will become university presidents but it is possible in America,” she said.
探花视频
Register to continue
Why register?
- Registration is free and only takes a moment
- Once registered, you can read 3 articles a month
- Sign up for our newsletter
Subscribe
Or subscribe for unlimited access to:
- Unlimited access to news, views, insights & reviews
- Digital editions
- Digital access to 罢贬贰’蝉 university and college rankings analysis
Already registered or a current subscriber?
