USA DOOR CLOSES FOR SCIENTISTS CHINA OPENS ,WHEN DID INDIA OPEN EYES, DO THIS BRAIN DRAIN TO USA
One Door Closes While Another Opens
While China opens its doors to the world, the US seems determined to close its own. H1B visas, which allow skilled foreign employees to stay and work in the US, have become difficult to obtain under President Trump’s rule. Growing concern over intellectual property theft is pushing lawmakers to consider restricting visas for Chinese students. The US government is reducing the role of science in general, and in response, scientists are now beginning to head towards China.
Ecologist Luke Gibson is one such example. Gibson moved from The University of Hong Kong (HKU) to Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Shenzhen in 2017. SUSTech offered him a relocation package worth 1.6 million USD, forty times what he made at HKU. A part of the funding came from the Thousand Talents program. Gibson is now a tenure-track associate professor at SUSTech.
With a supportive research environment, exciting initiatives, and ample funding, China will no doubt continue to lure talented scholars from across the globe. Presently, the brain drain from the US is a trickle but may become a flood if the Trump administration continues its current policy trends. It remains to be seen whether the US can reverse its current path. Regardless, China’s policies point to its continued rise as a center for science.
Have you thought of studying or working in China? Which countries seem attractive to you to work in? Please let us know what you think in the comments section below.
