Smith ?81 of Microsoft advocates immigration reform, expansion of STEM education

In the rapidly expanding field of technology, the number of jobs available requiring a degree in computer science dramatically outstrips the number of computer science degrees currently being awarded in the United States, Brad Smith ’81, general counsel and executive vice president for legal and corporate affairs at Microsoft, said in a lecture on campus on Friday.

“The most important tech policy issue of our day is all about people,” Smith said. He explained that if the United States wants to sustain its current leadership position in computer science and technology, it must solve the current problematic gap between the number of available jobs in computer science and technology and the number of people with the right qualifications and skill sets to fill these openings.

“If you look at the state of computer science today, there are actually more jobs than people — by a very large margin,” Smith explained, emphasizing that there are many open jobs at top companies like Microsoft, IBM, Intel or Oracle.

Smith cited an estimate by the Bureau of Labor Statistics that the economy will produce 122,000 jobs requiring a new hire with at least a bachelor’s degree in computer science this year and every year of this decade. He added that Microsoft estimates that, come graduation this May and June, the entire nation will only produce about 51,000 new bachelor’s degrees in computer science.

Smith and Microsoft’s proposed solution to the shortage is to use policy to connect two potential solutions: high-skilled immigration reform and STEM-based education reform.

High-skilled immigration reform, as Smith said in a question-and-answer session after his lecture, is the shorter-term component of the solution.

The national shortage of computer science graduates has made companies like Microsoft turn to qualified foreign nationals from outside the United States. Currently, one-third of Microsoft’s work force based in Washington state are foreign nationals, to which Smith noted that it feels as though he goes to work at “the United Nations of software.”

On a more serious note, Smith stated that these foreign nationals have made the company and the community a “better place.” He went on to explain that the current immigration system places limits on the number of immigrants who may enter the United States.

He said that 125,000 people had applied for the 85,000 H1-B visas available this year, causing the visas to be distributed according to a lottery system. The H1-B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows U.S. employers to employ foreign nationals in specialty occupations for a select period of time.

According to Smith, the United States has a very idiosyncratic immigration system that works well for some industries but not for others.

“What we have created in the process is an immigration system that makes it easier to become a minor league ball player than a major league engineer,” Smith noted.

Last fall, Microsoft offered up its policy solution to the problem of employee shortage. Smith stated that the cost of getting an H1-B visa is currently $2,350 dollars, which is less than companies might be willing to pay for these visas. Microsoft is pursuing the idea of raising the cost to $10,000 per visa. They advocate using the extra revenues from the visas to fund a national STEM education fund, which they estimate would raise $5 billion over the next decade.

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As Microsoft has obtained the approval of the White House and both houses of the Senate, the new Immigration Innovation Act of 2013, with 25 sponsors, is one demonstration of the feasibility of this idea.

Reformed immigration policy across the United States is key to improving STEM education in Microsoft and Smith’s vision. He described STEM-based education reform as the long-term component of the solution.

While Smith has advocated in Washington for new technology policy, he said that he thinks more than lobbying is necessary to change STEM education in the United States and would like to see the national government set goals for expanding computer science education.

“I believe that we have the opportunity to say in this country that by the end of this decade, we want to make it possible for every American to take computer science in high school,” Smith said.

However, Smith cautions that it will take a shared sense of responsibility to enact this type of education reform and that currently, only nine states currently recognize that computer science should count toward a high school math requirement.

“You still have to be among the fortunate few to be exposed to computer science in high school in America,” Smith said. To that extent, Smith cited “curriculum, capacity — especially teacher capacity — and student demand” as the three areas on which to focus attention.

He also emphasized mentorship, citing Microsoft’s founder’s own story. Most people believe Microsoft started with Bill Gates, but Smith said that Microsoft’s connections to Seattle started with a man named Bill Dougel — Gates’ schoolteacher in Seattle, who had a vision to enable students to learn computer science.

“Behind every Bill Gates, there is a Bill Dougel,” Smith said. “If you want to create more Bill Gates, you have to invest in more Bill Dougels.”

Smith’s lecture, titled “Immigration, Education and the Future of Computer Science in America,” was delivered on Friday at 12:30 p.m. in Sherrerd Hall as part of the University’s Center for Information Technology Policy lecture series.