The Pursuit of Knowledge: Speeches and Papers of Richard C. Atkinson

The Future of the University of California:A Personal View

39 The Future of the University of California: A Personal View September 1998 The role of knowledge in transforming virtually every aspect of our world has moved research universities like the University of California to center stage of American life. More than any other institution in our society, research universities are on the cutting edge in producing the well-educated people who drive our economy and the new research ideas that keep it growing. The tradition of research universities has been to value knowledge for its own sake. However, society’s increasing need for applications of knowledge has placed new demands on these institutions, including the University of California, as we move into the twenty-first century. I want to discuss the organizational changes, goals, and initiatives U.C. needs to pursue to meet these demands and to sustain itself as a great university . These reflections do not cover all the issues of importance to the University. Instead, I am concentrating on a few of the trends that, in my judgment, will shape our future as a particular kind of university during a particular period in its history. I should emphasize that these are personal views. They have not been fully discussed with Regents, chancellors, faculty, or other members of the University community. ASSUMPTIONS I begin with some assumptions. The first assumption is that California will continue its thirty-eight-year commitment to the Master Plan for Higher Education. The combination of record numbers of students and constrained funding for higher education over the next two decades will test California’s will to keep the Master Plan’s promise of access, quality, and affordability. But although some details of the Master Plan may need to be altered to address new circumstances, its central idea—the concept of three public segments (the University of California, the California State University, and the Community Colleges) with different missions, admission standards, and responsibilities— should endure because it serves this state so well. My second assumption is that the University of California’s future is committed to the notion that we will remain a research university. And by the term research university I mean an institution in which the search for knowledge is at the center of everything we do. This does not mean a university in which research is carried out at the expense of undergraduate education. Rather, a university in which, in the words of a 1974 University of California mission statement, every responsibility is “shaped and bounded by the central and pervasive mission of discovering and advancing knowledge.” 40 / The University of California The Future of U.C. / 41 RESEARCH UNIVERSITIES IN A KNOWLEDGE-BASED SOCIETY For fifty years we have had a good understanding of the role of education as a driver of the economy, but it is only in the past ten to fifteen years that we have begun to fully understand the impact of research and development (R&D) on economic growth. A substantial literature on this subject has evolved, which has led to a development in economics called “new growth theory.” This work is nicely summarized in a report by the Council of Economic Advisers: 50 percent of American economic growth since World War II has been the result of investments in research and development.1 Obviously, the private sector is a major driver of R&D, but federally funded research in universities like U.C. also plays a key role. The literature also supports the conclusion that when investments in university research increase, there is (with an appropriate lag) a corresponding increase in private-sector investments. No state in the country illustrates the connection between knowledge and wealth more vividly than California. Almost all of the industries in which California leads the world—biotechnology , software and computers, telecommunications, multimedia , semiconductors, environmental technologies—were born of university-based research. Hewlett-Packard, one of the top ten exporter companies in the United States, estimates that over half its revenue comes from products that were developed within the past two years. More and more of these products are emerging from work done at universities. Ensuring strong economic growth has implications beyond simple dollars and cents. The state and the nation face tremendous problems—deterioratinginnercities,homelessness,degradationof the environment, the prospect of a huge number of Baby Boomers retiring with a far smaller workforce to support them in their retirement. How are we going to deal with these problems? There is only one...