America has the best system of higher education in the world. The Institute of Higher Education at Shanghai Jiao Tong University ranks the world’s universities on a series of objective（1）such as the number of Nobel prizes and articles on prestigious journals. 17 of the top 20 universities in that list are American. American universities（2）employ 70% of the world’s Nobel prize-winners. They produce about 30% of the world’s（3）of articles on science and engineering, according to a survey（4）in 2001，and 44% of the most frequently cited articles.
Why is America so successful? Wealth clearly has something to do with it. America spends more than twice as much（5）student as the OECD（经合组织）average，and alumni and philanthropists（慈善家）routinely shower universities（6）gold. History also plays a part. Americans have always had a（7）for higher education. The Puritans established Harvard College in 1636, just two（8）after they first arrived in New England.
The main reason for America’s success, however, lies in organization. The first principle is that the federal government plays a（9）part. America does not have a central plan for its universities. It does not treat its（10）as civil servants, as（11）France and Germany. Instead, universities have a wide（12）of patrons. The academic landscape has been（13）by rich benefactors such as Ezra Cornell, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins and John D. Rockefeller.
The second principle is competition. Universities compete for（14）, from students to professors to basketball, stars. Professors compete for federal research（15）. Students compete for college scholarships or research fellowships. This means that successful institutions cannot（16）on their laurels（成就）.
The third principle is that it is all right to be useful. America has always（17）universities as more than ivory towers. This（18）on “paying dividends” remains a（19）feature of academic culture. American has（20）the art of forging links between academia and industry. American universities earn more than $1 billion a year in royalties and license fees, and dozens operate their own venture funds.
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