Book contemplates multifaceted future of America's public research universities

University Park, Pa. -- As America's colleges and universities welcome a new cohort of first-year students and resume their fall academic activities, and as annual rankings of universities are released, attention is focused on the complex operations of public higher education.

Universities tackle issues of financing, competition, outreach, student engagement, maintaining academic standards. Examining the mission, priorities and challenges of America's public research universities -- among the most complex educational institutions -- is a daunting task, carried out comprehensively in the book "Future of the American Public Research University," which originated from and has been edited by leaders from The Pennsylvania State University.

Public universities -- particularly those that undertake research as a central mission -- have come under growing public scrutiny while simultaneously trying to educate undergraduate and graduate students; provide solutions to national and worldwide problems of economic, scientific and medical concern; and also serve external constituencies through mandated outreach efforts.

"The future depends on the strength of public higher education because of its contribution to economic vitality, personal opportunity, social progress, improved quality of life, healthy communities, and democracy in American society," wrote two of the book's editors, Roger Williams, executive director of the Penn State Alumni Association, and Christian K. Anderson, a Ph.D. graduate in higher education from Penn State and now an assistant professor at the University of South Carolina. "Universities must be flexible and creative in how they deal with the myriad external and internal challenges that influence their existence."

In 12 chapters, leaders from several universities and higher-ed organizing bodies offered perspectives on a range of topics arranged into three parts:

-- Part I: Learning, Resources and Competition: Dilemmas of the Public Research Universities;
-- Part II: Strategic Engagement: Reconciling Public and Private Benefits of Education in Public Research Universities; and
-- Part III: Organizing Public Research Universities for Engaged Learning.

In chapter four, Donald E. Heller, director of Penn State's Center for the Study of Higher Education, discussed the topic likeliest to be on the minds of most students and their parents: financing. Following an examination of the history of public universities' funding, from the first state-supported college to the emergence of tuition and changing economic trends influencing the costs of going to college, Heller made three predictions for public research universities and the financial implications for students:

-- "State funding for public research universities will continue to grow more slowly than the growth in costs, thus putting more pressure on universities to look to other sources of revenues;

-- "Tuition prices will continue to rise at rates in excess of inflation, as these universities increasingly turn to tuition and fee revenues for support;

-- "Public universities, in response to the pressures of competing with each other and with private colleges and universities for students, will continue to emphasize merit grants to meet enrollment management objectives at the expense of need-based aid."

"The trends documented in my chapter portend a somewhat bleak future for public research universities in the United States," said Heller."Policymakers at the federal, state and institutional levels will need to step forward to ensure that these universities will remain accessible to the great majority of academically qualified students."

Penn State, one of America's land-grant institutions of public higher education, celebrated its sesquicentennial in 2005. Rather than approach the anniversary with large amounts of fanfare and celebratory galas, the University's leadership decided to use the opportunity to host a symposium to examine the potential and pitfalls of its future, and that of its public research university counterparts. The symposium was organized by the Penn State Alumni Association and the University's Center for the Study of Higher Education. "Future of the American Public Research University," edited by Roger L. Geiger, Carol L. Colbeck, Roger L. Williams and Christian K. Anderson, is published by Sense Publishers as part of its series "Global Perspectives on Higher Education" and is available for purchase as an e-book at http://www.sensepublishers.com/ online.


FUTURE OF THE AMERICAN PUBLIC RESEARCH UNIVERSITY
Roger L. Geiger, Carol L. Colbeck, Roger L. Williams and Christian K. Anderson
The Pennsylvania State University

Global Perspectives on Higher Education, volume 6
ISBN 978-90-8790- 048-9 hardback USD147/EUR135
ISBN 978-90-8790- 047-2 paperback USD49/EUR45
252 pages