OPT Reforms and the Relative Supply of STEM Skills

OPT Reforms and the Relative Supply of STEM Skills

Since the late 2000s, reforms to the optional practical training (OPT) program have allowed international STEM graduates to work in the United States for up to three years after graduation. We study how these reforms affected the supply of STEM skills in the United States. Exploiting the staggered 2008, 2011, 2012, and 2016 STEM-OPT expansions, we find that OPT reforms increased STEM degree completions by 14–15 percent, with gains evident at the bachelor’s and master’s levels. Domestic completions increased as well, suggesting that OPT expansions may have crowded in domestic STEM students rather than crowding them out.

Taxes on High-Skill Immigration: Demand and Supply Response in the International Student-OPT-Work Visa Pipeline

ROCKWOOL Foundation

University science in the US needs a coherent plan

The Trump administration continues to degrade America’s scientific establishment, causing widespread harm to the country’s broader interests and well-being. Last week, the Association of American Universities reported that graduate student enrollment in major research universities, which award half of all doctorate degrees in the United States, is down 15% compared to a year ago. And no wonder, considering the effect of recent immigration policies that deter international students and the financial uncertainties that universities are facing given the unpredictable nature of federal funding. The ability to support new doctoral students depends heavily on research grants, and any responsible administrator would be cautious about making commitments to students they can’t keep. This is discouraging to the scientific community but should be alarming to everyone.

Equity in K-12 STEM Education

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) live in the American imagination as promising tools for solving pressing global challenges and enhancing quality of life. Despite the importance of the STEM disciplines in the landscape of U.S. political, economic, and social priorities, STEM learning opportunities are unevenly distributed, and the experiences an individual has in STEM education are likely to vary tremendously based on their race, ethnicity, socio-economic class, gender, and a myriad of other factors. Equity in K-12 STEM Education: Framing Decisions for the Future approaches equity in STEM education not as a singular goal but as an ongoing process that requires intentional decision-making and action toward addressing and disrupting existing inequities and envisioning a more just future. Stakeholders at all levels of the education system - including state, district, and school leaders and classroom teachers - have roles as decision-makers who can advance equity. This consensus study report provides five equity frames as a guide to help decision-makers articulate short- and long-term goals for equity and make decisions about policy and practice.

Exclusive | U.S. Weighs $100,000 Fee for Foreign Students Wanting to Work After Graduation

The proposed policy would particularly affect Silicon Valley, Wall Street and universities.

Women in STEM Program - Henry Luce Foundation

Through the Clare Boothe Luce Program for Women in STEM and STEM Convergence, we aspire to close the gender gap in the field, broaden the participation of women from diverse backgrounds, and advance women-led STEM innovation for positive social change.

Will A.I. Make College Obsolete?

During a time when American trust in institutions is at an all- time low, A.I. is poised to accelerate a growing disillusionment with higher education.

The End Of Upward Mobility

Artificial intelligence is coming for the meritocracy.

Education Policy

Australia continues to rank lower than comparable high- and middle-income countries in achieving quality education outcomes. This despite record spending by federal and state governments on progressive curriculum initiatives. One Nation will restore critical thinking in the classroom and reinstate the cornerstones of education.

How Heavily Are PhD Students Offloading Their Scientific Writing to AI? Evidence from US STEM PhD Dissertations

Large language models are diffusing rapidly into science, raising concerns that delegating research writing to AI may undermine the development of expertise that scientific training is supposed to build. We measure AI-generated writing in the dissertations of a near-census of US STEM PhD graduates from 2019 to 2026 and link graduates to their subsequent employment. AI writing is absent before 2023, present in 29% of dissertations filed in 2026, and rapidly growing. Use is more common among students from non-English-speaking countries and at lower-ranked programs. Among graduates in the same program and cohort, those whose dissertations contain AI writing are less likely to enter academic research careers and more likely to enter non-tenure-track roles or industry, with this pattern strongest among US-origin students. At the same time as AI may increase research productivity, it thus appears to also be displacing a potentially important portion of the work through which scientific expertise is developed.

Childhood and Education #21: Grades and Standards

First you get to college via the wrong metrics, as previously discussed in #12. Then things get easier.

The Program

AI-powered curriculum focused on engagement, personalized mastery learning, and life skills workshops

How to Break the Academic Silo Mindset - The Community Solution Education System

What’s stopping higher education from reaching its full potential? In this episode of Radical Cooperation, Dr. Michael Horowitz sits down with Dr. Beronda Montgomery—biologist, author of Lessons from Plants, and former Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean at Grinnell College—to unpack why silos persist in colleges and universities, and how those divisions hold institutions […]