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A Blueprint for the Future
How can eight of the University of Texas System 's universities become far more competitive research institutions? Only by an ambitious recruitment of new faculty and greatly increased funding, a prestigious academic advisory group told the U.T. System Board of Regents.
Hired in July 2003, the Washington Advisory Group (WAG) LLC recently focused on four of the System's universities with already-existing graduate programs and large research profiles (UT Arlington, UT Dallas, UT El Paso and UT San Antonio), and on four developing institutions with teaching missions and smaller research profiles (UT Brownsville, UT Pan American, UT Permian Basin and UT Tyler). UT Austin and the System's six medical campuses, which already offer nationally competitive research programs, were not included in the report.
WAG principals visited all eight campuses across the state, talked to administrators and faculty, and studied the different histories, demographics and locations of each university so they could offer both group and university-specific recommendations for expanded research. All eight universities must enhance their own existing strengths and focus on precise areas of research they can excel in, the WAG report said.
To become part of the top 100 research institutions in the country, said WAG principal Dr. Frank Press, "will require Herculean effort and resources" from the universities, as well as the UT System. The report advised individual universities to focus on realistic plans and on greater opportunities for collaboration with other universities, the community and private industry. This enhanced university research, in turn, has been shown to contribute dramatically to the cultural and economic growth of a community - as well as to the state's and nation's growth.
The WAG report is a road map, and not a report card, said UT System Chancellor Mark G. Yudof, who counseled patience, as well as determination. "It's darned hard to create a Tier One research university," he said.
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