This is a waste of resources on the part of the city. Both NYU and Columbia are top notch institutions and it would make far greater sense to expand their programs.<p>Beyond that, the formula of what makes for a thriving tech community isn't entirely clear anyhow. The Valley has Stanford and VC's (and great weather), but there is also little else in the area competing for talent beyond great tech companies. So throwing in a new college/university into Manhattan isn't going to be enough to change things.<p>Rockefeller University is in the city, and it has fantastic researchers and great educational programs in the biomedical sciences - but you don't see biomedical companies popping up all over Manhattan because of it.
Another issue that needs to be considered for this initiative to meet its goal (which I assume is to install a professional engineering/applied sciences base in NYC) is where these people will work once they receive their educations. Tech is on the rise in NYC, no doubt, but it's too soon to call it a long-term trend. Fin Services will continue to consume the majority of the talent for the distant, yet foreseeable future. Academia alone won't make this goal a reality.
When I read the headline, I thought it was for a public high school but was disappointed to find out it was for a university. Seriously, who cares about that when the public school system is in need of such major reform?<p>There are plenty of options for those looking for a good college. What NYC and the rest of this country needs is a better K-8 and high school system.