Caltech: secrets of the world’s number one university

The secret of success is actually fairly simple - do the opposite of what a typical UK university does, in an environment that is the opposite of what's been currently fostered by UK research councils. -JD

All secrets are obvious and, as a rule, are natural, logical phenomenon. Undoubtedly, the main roots of the university success is management. When a leader has vision, able to determine the ways of development, to put the correct aims, to see the ways of their achieving, to attract loyal and professional team in management who are able to help to put ideas into practice, the organization is expected to be in success. If even more, apart from, the leader is able to take seriously every management team member’s opinion as important and then take his own surely right decision or admit to take decisions collectively, calculating properly all the pros and cons, then there is nothing leave to do for the organization as to be a number one. What is important for me from the Caltech’s experience, it is aspiration for the management to look beyond and look for smth new! What to say, just it is a pity that some leaders do not afford for themselves to look beyond and be talented because they know they have to change a lot inside themselves.

Caltech is a clear example of where small is not only beautiful, but also efficient, and competes with and beats the huge institutions. I am a visiting professor from the Netherlands at the Sate University of Sao Paulo (USP) in Brazil where enormous size is the credo, and quality has got lost somewhere down the line, or may be never existed. The telling differences in statistics are: Caltech 300 professors, 977 undergraduates. 1204 graduates - USP ~5000 professors, 55000 undergraduates, 27000 post graduates. This gives a staff to student ratio of 1:3 and 1:4 for undergraduates and post graduates respectively at Caltech and 1:10 and 1:5.5 at USP. Although USP has consistently been the best university in Latin America (varying between 150th and 240th place in the world university rankings for the last 10 years) there is absolutely no way that USP could rise into the top 100 given its inertia and inability to respond in a timely fashion to new teaching and research challenges as they arise. It is not lack of money, but inefficient administration that is the main Achilles heel at USP. Also, the article comment that one has to be small enough to regularly meet potential collaborators at the coffee shop sums up another part of the problems at USP perfectly.

When I was at Caltech in 1962 there were only 400 professors and 400 graduate students , just one to one . Every graduate students had an Office right across the advisors' Office . I did very serious research and graduate study . I was paid very well too . $ 210 per week for 60 hours of research work on the field . 50 % overtime. They paid for 70 hours . Coffee was just 10 cents per cup . Great school. I studied 22 hours a week only 2-3 hours sleep . But it was worthed . Thanks billion Caltech .