

Bloomberg’s Big Push for an Applied Sciences School in NYC - helwr
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/nyregion/bloombergs-big-push-for-an-applied-sciences-school.html?_r=1

======
dr_
This is a waste of resources on the part of the city. Both NYU and Columbia
are top notch institutions and it would make far greater sense to expand their
programs.

Beyond that, the formula of what makes for a thriving tech community isn't
entirely clear anyhow. The Valley has Stanford and VC's (and great weather),
but there is also little else in the area competing for talent beyond great
tech companies. So throwing in a new college/university into Manhattan isn't
going to be enough to change things.

Rockefeller University is in the city, and it has fantastic researchers and
great educational programs in the biomedical sciences - but you don't see
biomedical companies popping up all over Manhattan because of it.

~~~
iskander
I'm an NYU grad student and I think putting city money into my school would be
a greater waste. NYU is a distracted and sprawling bureaucracy. Getting two
weeks of summer funding required a long series of confusing email exchanges
which finally resulted in having to sign 5 identical forms (each given to a
different administrator). The elevators in my building break on a regular
basis, and attracting the attention of maintenance workers requires forms and
requests from "higher up". They've started closing the math building at night
(a night guard is too costly) but find enough money/resources to expand into
Abu Dhabi and Poly. It's a mess!

------
jsherry
Another issue that needs to be considered for this initiative to meet its goal
(which I assume is to install a professional engineering/applied sciences base
in NYC) is where these people will work once they receive their educations.
Tech is on the rise in NYC, no doubt, but it's too soon to call it a long-term
trend. Fin Services will continue to consume the majority of the talent for
the distant, yet foreseeable future. Academia alone won't make this goal a
reality.

------
MichaelApproved
When I read the headline, I thought it was for a public high school but was
disappointed to find out it was for a university. Seriously, who cares about
that when the public school system is in need of such major reform?

There are plenty of options for those looking for a good college. What NYC and
the rest of this country needs is a better K-8 and high school system.

~~~
anamax
> When I read the headline, I thought it was for a public high school but was
> disappointed to find out it was for a university. Seriously, who cares about
> that when the public school system is in need of such major reform?

It may be that Bloomberg thinks that he can make a difference with "yet
another university" and can't make a difference in the K-12 system.

