Chinese Dragon Flies Higher Than the American Eagle China Widens Its STEM Gap Over the US

With all due respect to the social sciences and humanities, which have patiently been part of STEM education curricula both in the USSR and, in a reduced form, in modern Russia and the world, the essence of the engineering profession is still formed through the study of mathematics and the exact sciences. All this "humanities stuff" may contribute to an engineer's creative thinking but cannot form it. Talented STEM specialists play a key role in a country's economic growth and competitiveness, especially in advanced industries where science and technology are the foundation. Such cutting-edge industries as semiconductor manufacturing, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and weapons systems depend on the availability of extensive, world-class STEM talent.

A country aspiring to scientific and technological leadership must have a developed university system for STEM education. The United States was long considered the undisputed leader in this field, with its universities being the best in the world, occupying top positions in all international university rankings. However, almost unnoticed in recent years, China has made an impressive leap in STEM education and now significantly outperforms the States with their world-renowned universities.

For example, since 2007, China has surpassed the US in the number of STEM PhDs awarded. In 2000, the US graduated 17,830 STEM PhDs, while China graduated 7,520. But by 2007, China had surged ahead, awarding 24,430 PhDs compared to 23,940 in the US, and the gap has only widened since. By 2022, over 50,970 doctoral degrees in STEM were awarded in China—more than 50% more than in the US (33,820) (see Figure 1). This can be partly explained by China's population being four times larger than that of the US, but the latter has long been a global "factory" for training scientific personnel, so it clearly does not lose in terms of planetary economies of scale.

Figure 1. Dynamics of STEM PhD graduates in the US and China.

Source: itif.org/publications/2025/09/10/ame...

Future PhDs begin their journey with a bachelor's degree. And here, China long ago overtook the US in the number of university degrees awarded in natural sciences and engineering. In 2011, China awarded 1.39 million such degrees, more than double the 653,341 awarded in the US. By 2020, China was awarding nearly 2 million bachelor's degrees annually, while the figure in the US was just under 900,000 (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Dynamics of STEM bachelor's degree graduates in the US and China.

Source: itif.org/publications/2025/09/10/ame...

The scientific expertise accumulated by Chinese universities in STEM fields is also reflected in the "gross output" of scientific products in the form of publications. The Nature Index shows that Chinese universities dominated global scientific "production" from May 2024 to 2025. Seven out of the top ten leading institutions with the highest volume of scientific publications, which published a total of 19,151 articles, are Chinese universities. At the same time, only three American universities made it into the top ten, indicating a shift in global scientific leadership to China.

Table. Top ten world universities by number of scientific articles in STEM fields

Source: nature.com/nature-index/inst...

Incidentally, the best Russian university in this list, Moscow State University (MSU), is ranked 417th out of 3,771 universities, with 151 publications in the natural and exact sciences, neighboring such "giants" of world science as the University of Bath (UK) and the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia). For reference: The University of Bath is a public educational and research university located in the city of Bath, Somerset, UK. The city of Bath (or "banya" in Russian) has been known since antiquity for its famous healing springs as a balneological resort. The city's population is 94 thousand people.

However, on its step of this ranking, MSU is also surrounded by a multitude of Chinese universities: Renmin University of China, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Xidian University, Xiangtan University, Harbin Medical University, and Tianjin University of Technology. In short, Chinese universities have not only grown qualitatively but have also multiplied unprecedentedly in quantitative terms. In total, there are 764 Chinese universities, 650 American, and 85 Russian in this list.

Thus, the Chinese scientific dragon has not only taken off but is flying confidently, much higher than the American eagle, which until recently was considered unattainable in scientific height for the whole world. This is further evidence of the conclusion of the American world economic order and the transition to a new global system where China and other Southeast Asian countries will occupy leading positions. The consequences of this established lag for the future technological competitiveness of the United States are significant. If the US cannot keep pace with China in training the next generation of researchers, it risks losing ground in the very sectors that will define economic and geopolitical leadership in the 21st century.