This award will provide partial support for the National Academy of Science (NAS) to conduct a study to examine and assess the health of US research universities, and provide recommendations to ensure these institutions continue to drive innovation in today?s global society, helping the nation meet its economic, environmental, energy, health and national security goals. The work will be performed by an expert committee, under the oversight of the NAS? Policy and Global Affairs Board on Higher Education and Workforce. The committee is charged with 1) describing and assessing the historical development, current status, and societal impact of research institutions within the context of the nation?s research and innovation enterprises and system of higher education; 2) evaluating the organizational, financial and intellectual capacity of public and private research universities and; 3) envisioning the mission and organization of research universities in 10-20 years and the necessary steps to realization. Results from the study should aid all stakeholders of the research enterprise in support of innovation and the generation of new knowledge, essential to the future of research universities and the nation?s competitive position in a global economy for the future.
today confront significant challenges and opportunities, including financial pressures, advances in technology, developments in teaching and learning, a changing demographic landscape, and increased international competition. In response to a request to examine these issues from Senators Lamar Alexander and Barbara Mikulski and Congressmen Bart Gordon and Ralph Hall, the National Research Council (NRC) empanelled a committee, chaired by Chad Holliday, former Chairman and CEO of DuPont, to undertake a study of the challenges and opportunities our nation’s research universities face and the ways our nation can ensure that they continue to play a critical role in meeting national goals, particularly for prosperity and security. The study committee produced Research Universities and the Future of America, which provides ten recommendations that Congress, the federal government, state governments, research universities, and others can take to strengthen and focus the work of our nation’s research universities, allowing them to continue to produce the knowledge, ideas, and talent the United States needs to be a global leader in the 21st century. The report highlights the need for strengthening and expanding the partnership among universities, government, business, and philanthropy that has been central to American prosperity and security. The report examines trends in university finance, prospects for improving university operations, opportunities for deploying technology, and ways to reduce the regulatory burden on higher education institutions. It also explores ways to improve pathways to graduate education, take advantage of opportunities to increase student diversity, and realign doctoral education for the careers new doctorates will follow. The study was released in June 2012, and received national coverage in the Wall Street Journal and Business Week; with additional local and international coverage and more specialized coverage in the higher education press. Op-eds featuring the report have been written by committee members and, in one case, Senator Lamar Alexander and Hunter Rawlings, appearing in Science, USA Today, Politico, and other outlets. Later reports from the Presidents Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) and the National Science Board (NSB) have validated and/or amplified findings and recommendations in the report. Committee members and staff have provided presentations and briefings on the report to a wide range of stakeholder groups and three Congressional hearings have focused on or highlighted the report. The NRC is now in the midst of nine regional working meetings across the country designed to discuss implementation of the report and will hold a national conference in Washington in the fall of 2013 that brings together what has been learned and accomplished since release. As a direct result of Congressional hearings on the report, Rep. Mo Brooks, then Chair of the House Research and Science Education Subcommittee, requested that the Government Accountability Office (GAO) undertake a review of "regulatory actions that hinder our nation’s research universities" (Recommendation 7 in the report). Encouraged by the recommendations in this report (and others), the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) has formed a working group including NIH, NSF, DOE, and DOD to examine in more detail the non-academic careers of doctoral scientists and engineers and the ways in which Federal support of research and graduate research fellowship and traineeship programs could be reformulated to provide better training and support for those careers (Recommendation 8). While not necessarily a direct result of the report, the following developments are in line with its recommendations: The President’s FY 2014 budget request includes language that mirrors the study committee’s recommendations for federal research funding, particularly the recommendation for doubling the budgets of the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, and the Department of Energy Office of Science (Recommendation 1). Several governors have proposed substantial increases in state appropriations for higher education in order to create a better competitive position for their state’s residents in the global economy (Recommendation 2). The University of Arizona has added technology transfer as a component to tenure review (Recommendation 3). The Administration's initiative to revise Circular A-21 addresses key issues and recommendations raised by the study committee as well as other key stakeholder groups (Recommendations 6 and 7). Legislation now under consideration by Congress addresses, within the context of immigration reform, issues related to high-skilled immigrants highlighted in the report (Recommendation 10). Committee members see the follow-on activities for this study as a decade-long effort, based on its recommendations, to re-establish the importance of the American research university in addressing the major priorities of the nation.
