An response sketch against the earthquake experienced by the world of research in the United States. From his return to the White House of Donald Trump, the new US administration has reduced the budgets of hundreds of higher education and laboratories programs.
We must “allow scientists to have a residence permit, a visa with refugee status, and be able to continue their research in France”, urges former President François Hollande, again attached, in an interview with France Inter this Tuesday.
“Arrivated from their universities”
Several very prestigious university establishments, from Columbia to Harvard, have been threatened to see all their public subsidies cut in recent weeks.
Several research areas are particularly directed, such as climate sciences. A budget document transmitted to Congress establishes the closure of the American Meteorological and Oceanographic Agency (NOAA), one in the world of the world for climate research centers.
As for the National Health Institutes, the agencies responsible for medical research in the United States on the fight against cancer, diabetes and dementia, have registered hundreds of layoffs in recent weeks.
“What is currently happening in the United States leads to scientists not only being fired, but also eliminated from their universities, which their work is questioned by the subjects they deal with,” laments François Hollande.
The government at the forefront
With 1.5 million researchers and the second row in number of scientific publications, the country plays a key role in the progress of knowledge. What to promote several scientists groups to ask European universities to welcome them.
The government seems to have heard its requests. Philippe Baptiste, the minister responsible for higher education and research, has already asked research players to reflect on the reception of scientists who would soon abandon the United States, without participating in specific methods.
“The necessary thing is to be able to perpetuate its presence through a visa that would be a visa for scientific work. Universities are eager to welcome them and are ready to do so,” he wants to convince François Hollande.
Salaries and media without common measure with other European countries
However, this can face certain financial realities. Until now, the United States spent 3.46% of its GDP every year to finance its investigation against 2.2% for France. The 2025 budget of the Ministry of Investigation has also registered one billion euros this year.
Therefore, American researchers could prefer to resort to Switzerland or Sweden, who spend more than 3% of their GDP on the subject.
As for salaries, they have nothing to do. In France, according to the Ministry of Education and Higher Research, a investigator of around 35 years affects around 3,600 euros gross per month, bonds and hours included).
In comparison, a postdoco that is often an researcher at the beginning of a career at Stanford University (California) receives about 6,000 euros per month, according to the salary grids indicated on its site.
University of Aix-Marseille ready for reception
Again, researchers could be attracted to our European neighbors. In 2019, a report commissioned by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research indicated, for example, that the entry salaries of research teachers were 4,200 euros per month in the United Kingdom and 8,000 euros in Switzerland.
“If we let them out of France, they will go somewhere else, in other European countries or in Asia, where we can offer them working conditions and remain titles that will stabilize them,” says François Hollande.
In France, University of Aix-Marsseille He announced at the beginning of March that he established a program dedicated to the reception of US researchers, especially those who work on issues such as climate. François Hollande had already praised the initiative in a common forum published with the president of the Faculty Berton in Liberation.
Is this bill to be voted in the National Assembly? The parliamentary calendar is currently very bottled. As for the parliamentary niche of the Socialists who allows them to give a hand on the hemicycle agenda, it will not take place before autumn.
Source: BFM TV
