Research Universities and the Future of America Ten Breakthrough Actions Vital to Our Nation's Prosperity and Security (2012) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Summary
Summary
Pages 1-22
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 1... ...
They are, however, confronted by many pressures: the economic challenges faced by the nation and the states, the emergence of global competitors, changing demographics, and rapidly evolving technologies. Even as other nations around the world have emulated the United States in building research universities to drive economic growth, America's commitment to sustaining the research partnership that built a great industrial nation has weakened under these pressures.
|
From page 2... ...
However, the relative rankings of the United States in the global knowledge economy at a time when new knowledge and technological innovation are critical to economic growth and other national goals have shown that other countries increasingly are investing in their own competitiveness. As America pursues economic growth and other national goals, its research universities have emerged as a major national asset―perhaps even its most potent one.
|
From page 3... ...
As Jonathan Cole, former provost of Columbia University, relates, "The laser, magnetic-resonance imaging, FM radio, the algorithm for Google searches, global-positioning systems, DNA fingerprinting, fetal monitoring, bar codes, transistors, improved weather forecasting, mainframe computers, scientific cattle breeding, advanced methods of surveying public opinion, even Viagra had their origins in America's research universities. Those are only a few of the tens of thousands of advances, originating on those campuses that have transformed the world."2 In addition to their high productivity, the exceptional stature of American research universities globally can be measured in several additional ways.
|
From page 4... ...
• Research universities need to be responsive to stakeholders by improving management, productivity, and cost efficiency in both administration and academics. The second group identifies issues that affect the operations of universities, the efficient administration of university research, the effectiveness of doctoral education, and the robustness of the pipeline of new talent:
|
From page 5... ...
We can say without reservation that our research universities are, today, the best in the world and an important resource for our nation, yet at the same time, they are in grave danger of not only losing their place of global leadership but of serious erosion in quality due to critical trends in public support.
|
From page 6... ...
• Sufficient flexibility to accommodate differences among research universities and the diversity of their various stakeholders. While merit, impact, and need should continue to be the primary criteria for awarding research grants and contracts by federal agencies, investment in infrastructure should consider additional criteria such as regional and/or cross-institutional partnerships, program focus, and opportunities for building significant research capacity.
|
From page 7... ...
strategies, the federal government should adopt stable and effective policies, practices, and funding for universityperformed R&D and graduate education so that the nation will have a stream of new knowledge and educated people to power our future, helping us meet national goals and ensure prosperity and security. Actors and Actions -- Implementing Recommendation 1: • Federal government: The federal government should review and modify those research policies and practices governing university research and graduate education that have become burdensome and inefficient, such as research cost reimbursement, unnecessary regulation, and awkward variation and coordination among federal agencies.
|
From page 8... ...
, will only benefit from these actions through their success in competing for federal grants and contracts from these agencies. Expected Outcomes Supportive federal research policies would ensure stable funding and cost-efficient regulation sufficient to enable corresponding university investment in research facilities and graduate programs.
|
From page 9... ...
Hence, as state budgets recover from the current recession, states should strive to restore and maintain per-student funding for higher education, including public research universities, to the mean level for the 15-year period 19872002, as adjusted for inflation.4 • Federal government: To provide further incentives for state actions to protect the quality of public research universities as both a state and a national asset, federal programs designed to stimulate innovation and workforce development at the state level, including those recommended in this report, should be accompanied by strong incentives to stimulate and sustain state support for their public universities. 4 A 15-year period was used so as to ensure the funding recommendation was not unduly influenced by year-to-year fluctuations in state appropriations.
|
From page 10... ...
As states strive to compete in a knowledge- and innovation-driven global economy, restoring state appropriations to levels sufficient to maintain advanced education, research, and innovation programs provided by research universities is absolutely essential for the prosperity and welfare of their citizens. Increasing the autonomy and agility of public research universities should increase their efficiency and productivity as well as their ability to respond to changing state and regional needs during an extended period when states may not be able to restore adequate support.
|
From page 11... ...
Budget Implications Tax policies that create incentives for new university-industry research and development partnerships will have a cost to the federal budget as a "tax expenditure." Although we are not in a position to estimate what that cost would be, it would be a relatively minor component of the cost of current proposals to make permanent the R&D tax credit.
|
From page 12... ...
Universities should strive to constrain the cost escalation of all ongoing activities -- academic and auxiliary -- to the inflation rate or lower through improved efficiency and productivity. Beyond the implementation of efficient business practices, universities should review existing academic programs from the perspectives of centrality, quality, and cost-effectiveness, adopting modern instructional methods such as cyberlearning, and encouraging greater collaboration among research investigators and institutions, particularly in the acquisition and utilization of expensive research equipment and facilities.
|
From page 13... ...
Many institutions have already demonstrated that significant cost efficiencies are attainable. If research universities can take action, states and the nation will realize greater returns on their investments, and the savings associated with cost containment and greater productivity can then be deployed to other priorities such as constraining tuition increases (a major national concern)
|
From page 14... ...
However, the source that a particular institution taps for matching funds is not prescribed, so public and private institutions may draw from state support, philanthropy, business, or other sources for matching funds. While merit, impact, and need should continue to be important criteria for the awarding of grants, consideration should also be given to regional and/ or cross-institutional partnerships, program focus, and opportunities for building significant research capacity, subject, of course, to the matching requirements for the federal grants.
|
From page 15... ...
Both sponsored research policies and cost recovery negotiations should be developed and applied in a consistent fashion across all federal agencies and academic institutions, public and private. Budget Implications Federal coverage of a higher portion of indirect costs would, at the margins, shift part of federal research funding from direct to indirect costs, so there will be no net change in cost to the federal government.
|
From page 16... ...
We agree with the conclusion of the Association of American Universities, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and Council on Governmental Relations that "minimizing administrative and compliance costs ultimately will also provide a cost benefit to the federal government and to university administrators, faculty, and students by freeing up resources and time to directly support educational and research efforts."6 With greater resources and freedom, they will be better positioned to respond to the needs of their constituents in an increasingly competitive environment. Recommendation 8 Improve the capacity of graduate programs to attract talented students by addressing issues such as attrition rates, time to degree, fund 6 Association of American Universities, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, and Committee on Government Relations, Regulatory and Financial Reform of Federal Research Policy: Recommendations to the NRC Committee on Research Universities, January 21, 2011.
|
From page 17... ...
• Research universities, federal agencies: Research universities and federal agencies should ensure, as they implement the above measures, that they improve education across the full spectrum of research university graduate programs, because of the increasing breadth of academic and professional disciplines necessary to address the challenges facing our changing world, including the physical, life, social, and behavioral sciences; engineering; the arts and humanities; and the professions. • Federal government: The federal government should significantly increase its support for graduate education through balanced programs of fellowships, traineeships, and research assistantships provided by all science agencies dependent upon individuals with advanced training.
|
From page 18... ...
Budget Implications Increasing federal support for programs that enable the participation and success of women and underrepresented minorities in STEM disciplines has already been stated as a priority by both the America COMPETES Act and the Office of Science and Technology Policy.
|
From page 19... ...
The Department of Homeland Security should set the criteria for and make selections of areas of national need and of the set of accredited institutions in cooperation with the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. • Federal government: Engage in the proactive recruitment of international students and scholars.
|
From page 20... ...
Among the results were the green revolution in agriculture that fed the world, an American manufacturing industry that became the economic engine of the 20th century and the arsenal of democracy in two world wars, and an educated middle class that would transform the United States into the strongest nation on Earth. In the 20th century, emerging from the Great Depression and World War II, Congress acted once again to strengthen this partnership by investing heavily in basic research and graduate education to build the world's finest research universities, capable of providing the steady stream of well-educated graduates and scientific and technological innovations central to our robust economy, vibrant culture, vital health enterprise, and national security.
|
From page 21... ...
It is essential as a nation to reaffirm and revitalize the unique partnership that has long existed among the nation's research universities, federal government, states, and business and industry. The actions recommended will require significant policy changes, productivity enhancement, and investments on the part of each member of the research partnership.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.