From the issue dated May 2, 2003
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Public Colleges Emphasize Research, but the Public Wants a Focus on StudentsBy SARA HEBELAs states struggle with stagnant economies, governors and local corporate
That is a central quandary posed by the findings of The Chronicle's Survey of Public Opinion on Higher Education. Given a list of 21 possible roles that colleges should play, respondents placed in the bottom half such things as conducting research to make American businesses more competitive and helping local businesses be successful. Those tasks tend to top the agendas of many state officials (and, therefore, of many public-college presidents), leading states across the country to propose new university research centers and programs aimed at developing new technologies even as they cut operating funds for public institutions and financial aid for students. The poll's respondents, however, favor a strikingly different set of priorities: offering a general education to undergraduate students, preparing adults for jobs, and helping elementary and high schools teach children better. "For a college president, this is truly representing a dilemma," says Travis J. Reindl, director of state-policy analysis for the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. "Their mission, in many cases, is very firmly rooted in what the public is saying about the importance of undergraduate education. But at the same time, expectations and incentives drive you in a different direction." In recent years, governors in many states, including California and New York, have proposed spending millions of state dollars to create research centers that would build on their public universities' expertise in technology, biology, or other potentially lucrative fields. Even in this tough budget year, lawmakers in states such as North Dakota are setting aside money for new research-related projects at universities, whose operating budgets they are simultaneously slicing. In South Carolina and elsewhere, officials who want to encourage economic development but don't have money to spend on new college programs are considering easing state regulations that limit universities' relationships with industry. Roderick G.W. Chu, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, says college presidents and state lawmakers must press economic-development agendas regardless of public sentiment. The survey's respondents, he says, seem to hold an outdated view of public colleges as ivory towers whose main purposes are to help individuals meet their goals and to prepare students for jobs. Institutions, he argues, must begin to assume a broader role in helping states expand their economies, which he says are increasingly dependent on knowledge and technological advances. "It's a danger, especially now, when you see the economy changing, if you follow the feelings of constituents that look back to the past," says Mr. Chu, who has proposed that Ohio spend $300-million over two years for university research in areas such as biotechnology and nanotechnology. University leaders elsewhere say they would like to pay more attention to priorities beyond economic development, but feel obliged to embrace state priorities, especially during a budget crunch. "What do I think the governor is interested in?" says Richard S. Jarvis, chancellor of the Oregon University System, which faces cuts as the state faces a budget deficit of more than $2-billion over the next two years. "He's interested in jobs, jobs, jobs. I feel very directly the pressure to help jump-start the economy." Training Adults Mr. Jarvis and other college leaders make the point that adding research programs isn't the only way that colleges can help states economically. Supporting programs that help adults finish a degree or that retrain them for better jobs, he says, often can meet work-force needs faster than focusing mainly on getting undergraduate students ready for careers. Charles B. Reed, chancellor of the California State University System, says that adult education and teacher education become more important to the public when budgets are tight because of their tangible results. "During difficult economic times, people are very pragmatic, especially about higher education," he says. "They look to higher education to strengthen their schools and become more marketable in the workplace." However, adult-education programs at colleges and at secondary schools are facing cuts in some states, including Michigan and Minnesota. Earl Hale, executive director of the Washington State Board for Technical and Community Colleges, says lawmakers in his state support the colleges' efforts to provide more training programs in some areas, such as nursing, that face severe shortages of workers. But budgets for literacy programs and courses in English as a second language for adults -- efforts that are not viewed as filling an urgent need -- are vulnerable, he says. Meanwhile, some state lawmakers agree with the survey respondents' desire to support colleges in providing a strong, broad-based undergraduate education. Such a goal does not preclude efforts to enhance research, they insist. Illinois Rep. Kevin Joyce, a Democrat who is vice chairman of the Appropriations Higher Education Subcommittee at the General Assembly, argues that research funds help keep top-notch faculty members, who do a good job of educating undergraduates. But supporting undergraduate education itself, and access to it, also is essential, especially in a struggling economy, he says. "Without that, the whole American promise starts to fail." If states do not provide enough financial aid, Mr. Joyce says, many students will either choose not to attend college or will rack up large student-loan debts. And if those with loans cannot find jobs, he adds, they will be limited in their ability to use their education to improve their financial circumstances. Protecting undergraduate education is important for other reasons as well, says Mark G. Yudof, chancellor of the University of Texas System, who calls undergraduate education the "foundation of support" for higher education among state residents. Institutions will gain more trust, and more leeway, from the public if their undergraduate programs are perceived as being strong, effective, and accessible, he says. "When Mom and Dad sit around the table at dinner, they're not talking about nanotechnology. They're talking about whether Jane or Billy will get into the university down the street." The public's lukewarm response to economic-development endeavors "means that role either hasn't permeated the public consciousness, or they're skeptical," Mr. Yudof says. People may have good reason to be leery about the extent to which academic research actually contributes to a state's economy, he adds. For instance, a researcher who develops a new drug may have to license it with an out-of-state company, sending profits elsewhere, if no appropriate corporate partner exists in the university's home state. Just such a situation, Mr. Yudof says, arose not long ago, when he headed the University of Minnesota system. Richard M. Flaherty, president of College Parents of America, a national advocacy group, believes that most people do understand the role of colleges in advancing their regional and local economies, and generally support the use of some tax dollars for those purposes. But many parents are likely to prefer that their tuition payments be used to educate their own children and prepare them for careers -- and such an emphasis intensifies when the job market is tight, he says. "Families and individuals that are paying for college for students when you have a downturn in the economy are looking for more-immediate returns," Mr. Flaherty says. "Then you do have a significant focus on short-term results of a college education." Many Important Roles Even though survey respondents identified research and economic-development roles as lower priorities for colleges, more than half of them still said those roles were "important" or "very important." Alan G. Merten, president of George Mason University, says the high percentage of questions to which the answer was "very important" surprised him. "The good news is that we're important," he says, "and the bad news is that we're important." The shrinking availability of state funds and the growing demands on his university are forcing a "creeping change" in its role, Mr. Merten says. Over the past two years, George Mason increased its enrollment by 3,400 students, or 14.5 percent, without receiving any more state aid. Faculty members who must spend more time grading papers and holding office hours for those students have less time to do things like advise foundations or speak at Chamber of Commerce events, he says. People are relying on universities more than they even realize, he adds. Even though only 30 percent of survey respondents considered it "very important" for a college to provide cultural events to the community, Mr. Merten notes that many people visit George Mason's Fairfax, Va., campus for events and conferences. After watching bus after bus pull up, he asked university officials to calculate the number of visitors who were not faculty or staff members or students, over a two-week period in March. The total was 52,000. "We in higher education are being relied on to do more and more," Mr. Merten says. "It's a bit overwhelming, to say the least." 
http://chronicle.com Section: Special Report Volume 49, Issue 34, Page A14
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Copyright © 2003 by The Chronicle of Higher Education
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