Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) told us yesterday that 10 percent of MIT students come from Massachusetts, but 35 percent of them remain here upon graduation. So how are colleges and universities working with state and regional economic development authorities to boost these kind of "brain gain" numbers? Should a university Career Development Office see this as part of their mandate? Yes. Are they doing so or empowered to do so? No.
The issue is especially acute when it comes to retaining brilliant immigrants, since our government makes this so perplexingly difficult to do. The data don't lie. A recent study by Harvard, Duke and Berkeley revealed that, "Twice as many immigrants apply for patents than U.S. citizens and 1 percent more immigrants with American college degrees has directly caused a 15 percent increase in patents in the last 15 years. Immigrants are responsible for 25 percent of all U.S. patents." (http://www.usimmigration.com/immigration-policies-hurting-future.html)
Twitter @jesssicamcwade
The issue is especially acute when it comes to retaining brilliant immigrants, since our government makes this so perplexingly difficult to do. The data don't lie. A recent study by Harvard, Duke and Berkeley revealed that, "Twice as many immigrants apply for patents than U.S. citizens and 1 percent more immigrants with American college degrees has directly caused a 15 percent increase in patents in the last 15 years. Immigrants are responsible for 25 percent of all U.S. patents." (http://www.usimmigration.com/immigration-policies-hurting-future.html)
Twitter @jesssicamcwade