American Universities in a Global Market.

• Position: Conferences

An NBER conference on "American Universities in a Global Market" organized by NBER Research Associate Charles T. Clotfelter of Duke University, was held on October 2-4. Since World War II, American universities have occupied an unchallenged position of global preeminence. Owing to vigorous support of scientific research by the federal government, high rates of educational attainment, and a massive influx of scholars from Europe seeking refuge, America supplanted Europe as the home of the world's leading universities. Today, American institutions dominate the highest rungs of the various world rankings of great universities, routinely occupying the majority of the every top-twenty list.

But this position of preeminence may now be in jeopardy. The flow of foreign graduate students and scholars, while still massive, shows signs of slowing, in the wake of heightened security concerns and competition from foreign universities. Not only are European universities girding themselves for more vigorous international competition, but those in China, India, and other parts of Asia have signaled their intention to become major players in the global higher education market.

Meanwhile, America's own production of university graduates has slowed relative to that of other developed nations. Whereas in 1990 the rate of college completion in the United States (30 percent) was 11 percentage points higher than the median of a group of other developed countries; by 2004 the U.S. rate was 7 percentage points lower. And, there are unmistakable signs that America's position of leadership in the world--financial, military, intellectual, and moral--is increasingly being challenged. One perhaps small but telling example is the recently reported decline among supreme courts in other countries in number of citations to decisions issued by our own U.S. Supreme Court.

This conference examined aspects of American higher education today that will affect its global standing, in order to provide insight about the likely future of American universities. Will American universities sustain their leading role? Surely first-mover advantages and agglomeration economies, not to mention the traditions of free expression and decentralized competition, will continue to redound to our advantage. But the outcome seems far from clear.

The following papers were presented and discussed:

James D. Adams, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and NBER, "Is the U.S. Losing its Preeminence in Higher Education?"

Discussant: Charles Phelps, University of Rochester

John Bound, University of Michigan and NBER, and Sarah Turner, University of Virginia and NBER, "Coming to America: Where Do International Doctorate Students Study and How Do U.S. Universitics Respond?"

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