India accounts for one-fourth of the estimated 7.5 million science and engineering graduates and degrees awarded across the world in 2014, a report has said.However, its the US that tops the charts in research and development spending, according to the annual Science and Engineering Indicators 2018 report of the National Science Foundation has said.
Chinas growth in science and engineering field continued at an exceptional pace, the report said.The US is the global leader in science and technology (S&T). However, its global share of S&T activities is declining as other nations — especially China — continue to rise.
According to the most recent estimates, in 2014, the US awarded the largest number of S&E doctoral degrees (40,000) of any country, followed by China (34,000), Russia (19,000), Germany (15,000), the United Kingdom (14,000) and India (13,000).
In contrast, the US lags in bachelors level degrees.
India earned 25 per cent of the more than 7.5 million awarded S&E bachelors level degrees in 2014, followed closely by China (22 per cent), the EU (12 per cent) and the US (10 per cent). Nearly half of all degrees awarded in China are in S&E fields.
Since 2000, the number of S&E bachelors degrees awarded in China has gone up by 300 per cent, the report said.
Among the major producers of S&E publications, the United Kingdom had the highest international collaboration rate (57 per cent) in 2016, followed by France (55 per cent) and Germany (51 per cent). The US followed with a 37 per cent international collaboration rate, up 12 per cent from 2006.
The impact of S&E publications has also become more global. Between 2004 and 2014, the share of US publications with citations from abroad increased from 47 per cent to 56 per cent.
