Global Mobility of Research Scientists

Chapter 6

China’s “Great Leap Forward” in Science and Engineering

Richard B. Freeman,  and Wei Huang     Harvard University and NBER, Cambridge, MA, USA

Abstract

In the past two decades China leaped from bit player in global science and engineering (S&E) to become the world's largest source of S&E graduates and the second largest spender on research and development and the second largest producer of scientific papers. As a latecomer to modern S&E, China trailed the United States and other advanced countries in the quality of its universities and research but was improving both through the mid-2010s. This chapter presents evidence that China's leap benefited greatly from the country's positive response to global opportunities to educate many of its ...