Will Chinese universities threaten the global preeminence of those in the United States? In his new book, Empires of Ideas: Creating the Modern University from Germany to America to China, William Kirby, PhD ’81, Harvard’s T. M. Chang Professor of China Studies and Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration, turns to history for answers. Looking at the trajectory of German universities, the world’s best until they were supplanted by those in the United States, Kirby says that China’s internationalism and passion for higher education could similarly propel its schools past great American institutions—including Harvard.

Photo Courtesy The Harvard Center, Shanghai

China is home to more of the best human capital in the world than any other country. It has extraordinary school systems and extraordinary universities. Harvard’s graduate schools have been the beneficiary of this talent—GSAS in particular because the School is entirely meritocratic. We choose our students because they’re the best in their field, and they’re chosen by the faculty, not by a central admissions committee. When we cease to have the capacity to bring the best and the brightest to a place like the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, then we will decline. There’s no doubt about it.

History shows that a self-isolating China is a danger to itself and a loss to the world. The same may be said about the United States.