SSTI Digest

With one of the country's largest concentration of industrial and academic scientists and engineers, it is only fitting that Michigan hosts SSTI's Sixth Annual Conference, October 2-3, 2002.



Led by the Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC), Michigan has consistently been among the leading states for implementing innovative programs and policies to create tech-based economies: the life sciences corridor and billion biotech investment, automation alley, fuel cell commercialization, broadband deployment, university tech transfer, and the list goes on. MEDC, the host sponsor for SSTI's 2002 conference, is itself a product of innovative thinking in 1999 that privatized most of the state's economic development and worker training programs. More information about MEDC's tech initiatives can be learned by visiting its website: http://www.michigan.org

At almost every turn, the important roles played by universities and colleges in a knowledge-based economy seem to be validated. Industry and political leaders across the country are talking of the need for strong institutions of higher education, particularly public research universities, to improve national, state, and local competitiveness. 



Whether it is the generation of new ideas or innovations or the development of a skilled workforce, higher education is a critical component of almost every high tech hot spot (see for example, Annalee Saxenian's analysis of Silicon Valley and Route 128, Regional Advantage, or the Milken Institute's report, America's High Tech Economy: Growth, Development, and Risks for Metropolitan Areas) or the most successful state and local tech-based economic development strategies. 

The importance of attaining a higher education resonates with more than three-fourths of Americans today, according to the biennial survey Attitudes toward Public Higher Education, conducted by the American Council of Education. However, the survey points out most people are concerned that future state budget cuts could threaten the educational quality of institutions and limit the economic benefits they provide. 



Key findings include: 

More than $1.26 billion in royalties were collected by U.S. colleges and universities in FY 2000, according to the tenth annual licensing survey released by the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM). In addition, the FY 2000 Annual AUTM Licensing Survey reported 347 new products were introduced to market and at least 454 spin-off companies were created by the institutions, where inventors filed for more than 8,500 U.S. patents. 



Attesting to the localized economic development impact of strong university research, more than 80 percent of the start-up companies were located in the academic institution's home state or province. 



Other survey highlights include: 

A decline in state appropriations at four-year public institutions of higher education was the single most important factor associated with increases in tuition, according to a report released in February by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the U.S. Department of Education 



The Study of College Costs and Prices, 1988-89 to 1997-98 shows that changes in tuition and fees — what colleges charge and the costs they incur to educate students — are related in only limited ways and that many factors have been causing the continued tuition increases at public and private institutions over and above inflation. 



Mandated by Congress, the study used data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System to examine two main issues: the relationship between college prices (tuition the family and student pay) and costs (what the institution spends), and the relationship of federal and institutional aid to price increases. 

Trends in College Pricing 2001, the College Board's annual survey of more than 3,000 schools reported that college tuition and fees in 2001-2002 had increased an average of between 5.5 and 7.7 percent at four-year institutions, and between 5.5 and 5.8 percent at two-year institutions. Undergraduates at American colleges are paying, on average, from $96 to $890 more than last year for tuition and fees this year, depending on the type of institution. Students also faced charges of between 3.9 and 6.6 percent more for room and board.