STEM Education: China versus USA

International competitors are chipping away at America’s lead in hi-tech by educating legions of their citizens in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). The expertise gap threatens not only our economic engine of future products and services but the ability to develop and maintain our advanced defense systems.

The hardest pushing competitor, cited by Arthur Herman and just about every other informed observer, is China, which has arguably overtaken us and whose momentum is daunting, particularly because we appear to be treading water.



Some numerical reference points that compare STEM capabilities of the two nations are:

• Annual STEM Graduates: China graduated approximately 4 million students in 2019, 40% of which had STEM degrees or 1.6 million, while the United States awarded 331,000 degrees out of 1.8 million, or 18%. China is graduating five times the number of STEM students in this strategically vital area as the United States, resulting in this disparity.
• Patents: The World Intellectual Property Organization indicates China has passed us for the first time in 2019 by obtaining 60,000 patents versus our 58,000. It is unlikely that we will retake the lead, given that they have achieved a 200 fold increase since 2000.
• Research Spending: In 2016, China was spending $410 Billion while we were at $511 billion, but their rate of increase was 18% annually versus 4% for the U.S., leading the Wall Street Journal to conclude that we have already surrendered our lead. This scale-up is possible because of their homegrown talent.
• Innovations: China has set a strategic goal of moving from merely manufacturing excellent products to setting standards for designing and delivering at the cutting edge. Their strategic plan Made in China 2025 identifies ten high-tech industries that they seek to dominate, such as electric vehicles (where they are well on the way using entities such as their brand, Volvo), biomedicines, and Artificial Intelligence. As Vladimir Putin has said, “whoever wins the race in Artificial Intelligence will rule the world.” China has heard him.
• Cyberwarfare: China has developed an elite force of hackers – we have our own – and has used them to penetrate governments and strategic businesses worldwide, stealing both state and commercial secrets. Their rapid advances in Drone aircraft have been attributed to successful hacking of U.S. designs.

China is graduating five times more of STEM majors and is energetically deploying them across their economy as well as in national security. To compete in this century means to master the technologies that are the thrusts of the Made in China plan.

It will be virtually impossible to match the annual Chinese scale of 1.6 million STEM graduates, given that we are less than a quarter of their 1.4 billion population. A realistic goal will be to increase the percentage of students majoring in STEM from our current low number of 18% to 40%, matching the Chinese rate. Realizing this goal would result in almost 400,000 additional graduates but perhaps, more importantly, better prepare students to be successful in a much more demanding employment marketplace. Also, they will have higher incomes to pay back their student loans. Obviously, education is key.  READ MORE