#phil baty

[pinn2013]

Portugal: Universidades de Lisboa e do Minho entre as 400 melhores do mundo

Portugal: Universidades de Lisboa e do Minho entre as 400 melhores do mundo

Duas universidades portuguesas, a de Lisboa e do Minho, fazem parte da lista das 400 melhores instituições de ensino superior do mundo, num “ranking” elaborado pela Times Higher Education (THE).

As instituições lusas aparecem entre a 351ª e 400ª posições, no seio de uma lista em que os lugares cimeiros são dominados por universidades dos Estados Unidos da América (EUA) e do Reino Unido.

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[empiricaldaily]

While much of the funding for university research around the world is being increasingly focused on achieving prescribed social and economic outcomes, Caltech remains committed to allowing its scholars freedom to ask the fundamental, curiosity-driven questions. While riskier, such activity often leads to the most profound game-changing breakthroughs. Steve Mayo, chair of the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering at Caltech, says the funding structure is like a “pyramid” - with a little funding for targeted, applied research at the top, but with the bulk of money, at the base, reserved for fundamental enquiry. “If you put all your money into targeted discoveries you degrade your research base and that is not advisable,” he says. “Some think that you can pick and choose the technologies that are going to be successful, but you just can’t do it.”

Phil Baty. 2014.  (Title: 10 reasons why Caltech is the world’s number one university)

[empiricaldaily]

'It is more important to do something that’s new than just to crank out the papers. It is not about the numbers or the citation index, it’s about looking beyond that and looking at what is new and truly different. Maybe that comes from a certain amount of self-confidence that the institution has. I think many places are very conscious of being judged by the outside, but Caltech doesn’t have that.' This self-confidence has also allowed Caltech to resist rising pressure from governments and funders to place much more emphasis on the application of research for clear, visible economic impact, at the expense of fundamental, curiosity-driven exploration. For a science and technology institution, it can be a delicate balance – but at Caltech the focus is resolutely blue-sky first. [Steve] Mayo explains: No one comes to Caltech saying, ‘I want to start a company.’ They come because they want to benefit from the great, open, interdisciplinary environment – to do fundamental work. If they happen to have breakthroughs or discoveries with an application, then commercialisation is a side benefit.

Phil Baty. 2014. (Title: Caltech: secrets of the world’s number one university)