Interesting! Was just talking about this question with @JvNixon. I think the key is to first redesign the system of scientific credit, and then after that to build an education/funding system around that base.
https://twitter.com/tylercowen/status/1412074243064483842
My view of universities is that while education is an important function, it's also not that hard to get right. But research is also an important function, and is hard to get right. So we need to think more about how to optimize the research component of universities.
Some people are asking "Why combine teaching and research?".
For grad students the answer is very clear:
1) Only profs have the ability to teach and train grad students
2) Profs need grad students to do much of the actual research
For grad students the answer is very clear:
1) Only profs have the ability to teach and train grad students
2) Profs need grad students to do much of the actual research
For undergrads the answer is murkier. Basically the reasoning is:
1) undergrad tuition provides funding for profs and facilities
2) profs teaching classes keeps their skills sharp
3) undergrad RAs do some work
4) being around undergrads gives profs energy
1) undergrad tuition provides funding for profs and facilities
2) profs teaching classes keeps their skills sharp
3) undergrad RAs do some work
4) being around undergrads gives profs energy
Also there's evidence that tenured profs deliver a better education than adjuncts, though relative to full-time career lecturers I'm not sure.
theatlantic.com/business/archi…
theatlantic.com/business/archi…
The downside of combining undergrad teaching with research is that the amount of research in each area is influenced by demand for undergrad majors in that area. If a bunch of people want to major in econ and not sociology, you get more econ profs and fewer sociology profs.
This is obviously much more of a problem in fields like social sciences and humanities where government grants are not a big deal (when you have grants, that supports profs and heavily influences demand for faculty hiring in the granted areas).
As @JohnHCochrane once pointed out, the real reason we get so much crappy useless econ research is that professors need to publish papers to get tenure, and the demand for tenured econ profs is high due to high demand for econ undergrad education.
This suggests that maybe we could treat social science and humanities (and math?) differently from grant-driven STEM fields -- separating teaching and research for the former, combining them for the latter. But I suspect this would make people mad.
In fact, I think that our decision that humanities and social sciences should exactly ape the institutional structure of STEM has been a big mistake for many reasons...but that is a rant for another day.
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