Dr. Wang Huiyao works for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. His job is to convince foreign-educated Chinese to return to China to teach at universities or work at Chinese companies. With more than 10 million Chinese citizens educated overseas in the past 10 years, his task seems huge. Luckily for Wang, the United States makes his job easy, as I learned when I met him early this month on a panel discussion at the Bertlesmann Foundation conference, Back to Work: Innovation, Investment & International Open Markets.
The Chinese are savvy. They have a strategy to capture highly educated human capital from us. This strategy is in their interest--but certainly not in ours. The problem is that the U.S. isn't counteracting the Chinese effort with one of its own.
A Chinese citizen studying in the U.S. has very few options when his or her schooling has ended, because the U.S. doesn't provide many pathways to citizenship after graduation. In fact, the U.S. generally requires foreign students to leave country once they receive their graduate degrees.
Ironically, the federal government funds much of our foreign students' work to obtain their degrees in research at top American universities. When we educate Chinese citizens who then return home, it means American taxpayers are helping to educate and fund our emerging hi-tech competition abroad. And, in case you haven't noticed, that competition is getting mighty stiff these days.
President Obama highlighted this absurdity in his 2011 State of the Union address saying: "Today, there are hundreds of thousands of students excelling in our schools who are not American citizens. Some ... come here from abroad to study in our colleges and universities. But as soon as they obtain advanced degrees, we send them back home to compete against us. It makes no sense." I said much the same thing in my recent book, The Comeback: How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream, but unfortunately the president has had little else to say about substantial immigration strategy.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President Shirley Ann Jackson, who was on the panel with Wang and me, shared my concern about the U.S. pushing away our smartest graduates. She estimated that one-half of the graduate students at RPI come from abroad and about one-third to one-half of those come from China.
People can look at these facts and arrive at different conclusions. Some may ask why we allow foreign students to be part of our graduate programs in the first place. I believe it is to preserve our world leadership in graduate education and in innovation. We have succeeded as a nation because we have been a beacon for the world's best and brightest.
After Sept. 11, 2001, we became less welcoming. Other countries have filled the void and are now competing with us for the world's smartest students. We are still No. 1, but our lead is deteriorating. We are less able to attract or keep the world's most gifted scholars than we once were.
Shutting our doors or pushing students out when they're done studying does nothing to help American competitiveness in the global economy, especially when it comes to our biggest competitor, China. Our immigration policy must be strategically crafted to bolster American competitiveness by fostering creativity, innovation and success.
The U.S. should be an attractive home for these American-educated, Chinese-born graduates. We have the First Amendment that reduces fear of government. We have an uncensored Internet that allows unfettered pursuit of knowledge. We allow Facebook access enabling relationships and communication. Government and business leaders have no requirement to be a particular political party member. We have real democracy and contested elections. We are a melting pot, a mosaic of immigrants where competence is recognized and rewarded. We need a strategic immigration policy that recognizes and reinforces our history, values and aspirations for the future.
If the overarching goal is to foster innovation inside America's borders, we need an immigration strategy that will get and keep the best and brightest. We need a change in the collective mindset of America to encourage and welcome this extraordinary human talent. Finally, we need a change in the law so that the foreign-born, U.S.-educated can easily become citizens of our great nation.
Gary Shapiro is president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, the U.S. trade association representing some 2,000 consumer electronics companies, and author of The Comeback: How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream.
