|
Panel Detail:
Monday, April 27, 2009
11:00 AM - 12:15 PM
The New University and Its Role in the Economy
Speakers:
Richard Blum,
Chairman, Regents of the University of California
Michael Crow,
President, Arizona State University
Susan Hockfield,
President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Luc Vinet,
Rector, Université de Montréal
Deborah Wince-Smith,
President, Council on Competitiveness
Moderator:
Steve Fireng, President and CEO, Embanet ULC
 |
|
"Fifteen percent of U.S. bachelor’s degrees are in the sciences or engineering. In China, it’s 50 percent," says Susan Hockfield of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. At right is Michael Crow of Arizona State University.
|
|
As the economic climate grows bleaker, universities are increasingly being looked to as incubators of innovation and talent. However, panelists said accomplishing this goal requires the delicate balancing of two competing desires: opening universities to as many students as possible and maintaining the high quality of instruction and research.
"At the end of the day, it’s in regions and places where people create, work and add value to the economy. Universities are the fulcrum of innovation hotspots," Deborah Wince-Smith said.
The panelists agreed that universities play a crucial role because they are often a laboratory of business ideas, new products and the intellectual talent needed for growth. "Forty percent of the doctors that practice medicine in this state went to the University of California," noted Richard Blum, citing one example of the power of a university in driving a region’s economy.
The power of universities as economic engines provides great incentive for them to grow. However, "we’re not anywhere near ready to operate at scale yet," Michael Crow said. The belief that universities are underserving the nation’s needs has led Crow to oversee a dramatic expansion of the student body and course offerings at Arizona State University.
The panel agreed that American universities in particular are failing to compete globally in producing scientists and engineers. "Fifteen percent of U.S. bachelor’s degrees are in the sciences or engineering. In China, it’s 50 percent," Susan Hockfield said. The panelists concurred that the dramatic gap between the United States and other nations in the sciences could have devastating effects on the U.S. economy.
But there was heated debate as to how universities should go about generating greater intellectual capital. Hockfield warned against the type of expansion Crow championed, noting that her institution accepts just 10 percent of applicants. "If we accepted the next 10 percent," Hockfield added, "it would have a negative impact on teaching and research."
Blum blamed universities for failing to entice students into the scientific disciplines. "A lot of it is like anything else, it’s in how you market it," he said.
The panel explored whether part of the challenge lays in a general intellectual malaise in the nation at large. Hockfield said the excitement of the Apollo program drove many of her generation to pursue the sciences, and the panel largely concurred that the absence of such motivators has led to declining student interest in physics and engineering. "A culture where it’s understood that effort breeds success should be developed," Luc Vinet said.
However, Crow said the attitude problem may be confined to the leaders of higher education. "You are forced to innovate by your victories and defeats. ... We are overconfident in higher education because of our victories over the last 60 years."
| 
