Changing Higher Education

The high cost of funded research in colleges and universities

A college or university that does research ends up spending considerable resources of its own even when most of its research is “funded”. How and why is this the case, and where does the institution look to find the resources needed to cover this unfunded research cost? Undergraduate tuition seems like one likely source.

 

These internal research expenditures fall into two categories, which I will call “open” and “hidden”. As these terms may suggest, the first is a set of costs that are reported nationally by the NSF and consequently appear in numerous reports put out by the institutions themselves. On the other hand, hidden costs are well known, but seldom openly discussed even thought they contribute very significantly to the institutional cost of research .

“The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds"

John Maynard Keynes

 

The world is changing rapidly, driven by powerful forces such as economics, politics, demographics, religion and technology.  We have seen enormous increases in globalization over the past few decades that have transformed how we do business, how we live, and how our governments function. 

American universities have been affected only marginally by these powerful forces thus far, but it is difficult to imagine that they will not be changed in significant, perhaps radical, ways  over the next few decades.  This website is dedicated to discussion and analysis of the forces coming to bear on higher education, and of ways in which higher education might proactively and effectively use these forces to increase its impact.

“The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds"

John Maynard Keynes

 

The world is changing rapidly, driven by powerful forces such as economics, politics, demographics, religion and technology.  We have seen enormous increases in globalization over the past few decades that have transformed how we do business, how we live, and how our governments function. 

American universities have been affected only marginally by these powerful forces thus far, but it is difficult to imagine that they will not be changed in significant, perhaps radical, ways  over the next few decades.  This website is dedicated to discussion and analysis of the forces coming to bear on higher education, and of ways in which higher education might proactively and effectively use these forces to increase its impact.

“The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones, which ramify, for those brought up as most of us have been, into every corner of our minds"

John Maynard Keynes

 

The world is changing rapidly, driven by powerful forces such as economics, politics, demographics, religion and technology.  We have seen enormous increases in globalization over the past few decades that have transformed how we do business, how we live, and how our governments function. 

American universities have been affected only marginally by these powerful forces thus far, but it is difficult to imagine that they will not be changed in significant, perhaps radical, ways  over the next few decades.  This website is dedicated to discussion and analysis of the forces coming to bear on higher education, and of ways in which higher education might proactively and effectively use these forces to increase its impact.