The US government also needs to take a second look at its immigration policy, which tends to create an environment in which China sends its best and brightest young minds to be educated in STEM fields in the US, then once educated, the US sends them back to contribute to China’s economy rather than its own. “The talent that comes across is rich. It’s phenomenal,” said Manning. “We ought to do more than simply allow the talent to remain, or certainly more than force it to go back. We ought to be much more welcoming. The brain power is essential to our own entrepreneurship and continued growth.” Manning notes that students coming from China have largely been pre-screened and pre-qualified. “These are among the top candidates for higher education anywhere in the world. For us to have them in our midst and lose them, or allow them to return simply because we provided them with no incentives or possibly great disincentives, is a short-sighted economic policy. It’s the kind of thing that if we were more coordinated, we just wouldn’t allow to happen.”
I think private companies are doing a better job in that regard. Most tech companies go out of their ways to help foreign engineering students with their immigration status just so they can keep them.