Wow. Universities produce the vast majority of the basic science and medicine which has made the USA and the west the economic powerhouses they are.
oh i do not know about that
US Corporate research has produced a lot of breakthroughs especially in medicine, materials, optics, energy, info tech, transistors and semi conductors etc
The pursuit of profit drives innovation.
University scientists do get to work on what they are passionate or interested in and certainty have more freedom to explore new ideas/ concepts
Exploring new ideas/ concepts in STEM can result in innovation/ invention and act as a conduit of ideas start ups for industry.
University scientists can also work on ideas that do not have a snowballs chance in hell of resulting anything useful other than expanding the knowledge base.
Which is generally a positive thing.
Scientific research and product development is expensive & universities are constrained by having to allocate broadly across many research areas ( including the studies of Snowy Owl feather structure and composition)
and their core business is "education"
There are not enough of the vocational jobs nor factory jobs to absorb those non uni attending students.
Look at that vast pool of underemployed men with little prospects. They used to work mining, factory, and transport jobs that paid well enough. Those jobs don't exist anymore.
The cost of an "education" has become more and more prohibitive
Whether they understand it or not students need a ROI on their tuition
Universities/ colleges will likely have to tilt towards programs that provide students with in demand skills, rather than the objective of providing a broad based diverse education.
highly educated but unemployable humanities graduates often wind up working for minimum wage + tips
a terrible waste of potential
best to cull back the enrolment in paths to nowheresville
.)
