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First, we have grown the freshman class from a little over 1,100 students to more than 1,500 students. That is a big change. We also have managed to increase the admissions standards significantly. What I am proposing to the enrollment management committee is that we take the following actions:
1. We keep the class at about its current size but we focus on increasing quality by significantly increasing the number of applicants;
2. We focus on significantly increasing the number of community college transfer students;
3. We increase our number of distance education students and distance education programs; and
4. We increase emphasis on adult-oriented resident credit graduate programs.
These actions will increase our enrollment while increasing the quality of undergraduate student.
The critical component in enrollment for next year is retention. Erskine has asked that each focused growth institution pay particular attention to increasing retention and he is recommending that our focused growth funding be used to enhance retention activities. Retention will be a theme for the president and we need to assure that we are doing everything possible to retain qualified students.
What this means is that we should continue to grow, but our growth will be increasingly based on our relationships with our regional populations and with our currently enrolled students.
Second, I have been told that I may have been perceived as giving “mixed messages” when I suggested that the University needs to increase both its engagement with the region and its scholarship. I can see where this might cause some confusion, but in my opinion these concepts must be taken together. Engagement is a philosophy of linking the institution to the region. Enhancing the institution’s scholarly reputation can, and must, be accomplished through increasing engaged scholarship.
Many of you are aware that Paul Evans and I have been working on book length manuscript regarding linkages between higher education policy and economic development policy in a globalized world. That work has caused Paul and me to reflect more fully on the nature of scholarship. I will talk more about this in the fall—and give you data on how we reached to positions we are arguing, but today I want to introduce a model of research that I think can help explain how an engaged university can increase its scholarship within the context of its core mission.
In 1997 Donald Stokes published a book entitled Pasteur’s Quadrant in which he laid out a compelling argument for re-conceptualizing the basic nature of research and development. The traditional model of research—and we heard it on campus with regard to possibly linking the sciences and engineering in one college—is that applied research is different from basic research. This model can be traced to Greek philosophy and it represents the difference between Aristotle and Hippocrates, but it really became ingrained in the philosophy of American higher education with the influence of Vannevar Bush, the founder of NSF. Bush’s model of research is reproduced on the slide behind me. The technology process moves from basic research to applied research to product development to commercialization (or production). This rather linear model is the one that is most generally accepted today.
One of the major difficulties with the Bush conceptualization is the time it takes to move from basic research to production is on average excessive. According to work by the noted econometrician James Adams at Rennsalaer, the typical time from publication of a basic scientific finding until it affects business is two decades. In the rapidly changing globally competitive world, that simply is not an option.
Stokes argues that Vannevar Bush’s model is too simple and it does not adequately reflect the motivation of researchers with regard to their various projects. Stokes again makes a compelling case for examining motivation as well as the notion of basic versus applied research. Paul and I have modified his notions of researcher motivation. We argue that research is accomplished generally simply to expand human knowledge or to solve a specific problem that is of concern to the researcher. We call these types of research “purpose-driven” and “knowledge-driven”.
When one cross-tabulates research motivation with whether the research is basic or applied, one can define four categories of work. The traditional research that most universities value is in the lower left quadrant. This is work that is accomplished for the simple purpose of expanding knowledge. The researcher has no purpose for the findings in mind and the motivation for the work is not to solve a widely recognized practical problem (e.g., curing a disease or creating a new product). We call this Einstein’s Quadrant though one could think of many other names that would fit.
The upper left quadrant is labeled “Pasteur’s quadrant.” Pasteur fathered microbiology because of his desire to solve real problems: anthrax, rabies, milk spoiling, etc. His work was purposive, though it was basic science. The third type of research Stokes calls “ Edison’s quadrant.” Edison had no interest in science, he was an inventor and wanted to create applied products. That is an extreme example, but you get the idea. Today, applications-based researchers and developers are well schooled in science and mathematics even though their motivations may involve strict application rather than basic science. The fourth quadrant is applied research that is designed to extend knowledge. While this is not typical work, Darwin is probably the clearest example according to Stokes. Darwin set out to catalogue living things. Based on this work, he saw patterns that caused him to hypothesize about the mechanisms that created the great variability he observed. His work was applied, but it ended up creating new knowledge.
I am suggesting this model to you today because I believe that the real contributions that Western can make to scholarship are primarily in Pasteur’s and Edison’s quadrants. Smaller universities cannot compete in Einstein’s quadrant given the distribution of extramural funding. You probably are not aware, but according to NSF data, about 96 percent of federal S&E R&D funding received by universities is held by approximately 200 schools with approximately one-third of the total S&E R&D funding controlled by twenty universities. Nearly three-quarters of this funding involves basic research and less than three percent is involved with development. Yet, total federal funding for R&D is distributed quite differently and many critical issues that could be funded are not being addressed by the traditional research universities with any great effect.
More on this in the fall, but if we pay particular attention to Pasteur’s and Edison’s quadrants, Western can be an engaged university addressing real problems through appropriate development of basic and applied R&D. That is the key link between engagement and scholarship and it is not well understood in higher education.
You also will note that in each quadrant there is a designation as “short-run”, “Medium-run”, “Long-run”, and “Variable”. These designations represent the different economic timeframes that each type of R&D can be expected to have. The red arrows indicate the critical need for increasing flow among the quadrants of the model. Currently, there are few mechanisms to rapidly move information from Einstein’s to Pasteur’s or Edison’s Quadrants and that represents a major issue for American competitiveness.
Now, to career-based education. One bit of feedback that I received after my fall address was that we were becoming more “vocational.” That is a misunderstanding of the nature of career-based education. Career-based education is built on the notion of “synthesis” that can be derived from the work of Immanuel Kant. Now, I am not a Kant expert, but I did re-read parts of his Critique of Pure Reason. I also want to personally thank Darryl Hale for assisting me in thinking about this issue. Based on a review of the literature on globalization and discussions with business people, educators and others about the changing nature of the global situation, it would suggest that a more accurate hierarchy for education is as follows:
· Vocational Training. Vocational training is focused on short- and long-term learning programs for the purposes of accomplishing a particular job.
· Vocational Education. Vocational education involves many of the attributes of vocational training, except that subject matter bases tend to be broader and programs tend to involve a more diverse skill set. Vocational education provides a clear understanding of the nature of the workplace and the context of the work compared to vocational training.
· Subject matter education. Subject matter based education focuses on learning material and information. It is the acquisition of knowledge. Most colleges and universities spend most educational effort on subject matter education.
· Intellectual Skill Education (Analytical Education). Intellectual skill education involves an emphasis on higher learning skills such as the ability to read well, strong verbal ability (both oral and written), the ability to utilize mathematics, problem-solving, and critical thinking capacities. These are the advanced analytical skills that are considered critical to a college education. Intellectual skill education also can involve learning to work in groups, to understand culture, and to understand the importance of citizenship. Many academic disciplines and professions argue that their curricula teach these higher-order skills, but there is relatively little effort made to assess higher-order learning.
· Synthetical Education. Synthetical education involves both subject matter and higher-order educational skills that are practiced by the learner in context. That is, the learner has the opportunity through an integrated workplace, service learning, mentored research, or other active learning experiences to practice and use other forms of education, and reflect on the value of that education within the workplace or project. Synthetical education focuses on creativity, entrepreneurship, and problem solving using higher-order intellectual skills and subject matter mastery in order to create a “Versatilist” that is capable of applying knowledge within a variety of contexts.
The essence of a synthetical education is the ability to link theory and practice through systematic exploration in real-world settings. The purpose of this approach is to allow a deeper, meaningful education for students. These types of experiences are the same as are required to promote creativity—the essential characteristic that under-girds both innovation and entrepreneurship. Creativity involves the need to think interdisciplinarily—to link ideas and facts that are not on their surface clearly related. This, in turn, requires time for reflection that is linked to experience.
Synthetical education has its roots in traditional notions of liberal education (AAC&U, 2005), but it extends liberal education systematically to encourage creativity through experiential learning and reflection.
What is being called for of an educated person in a global economy is clearly not increasing vocationalization or increasing general education. Instead, there is an escalating need for linking general knowledge with specific disciplinary or professional expertise within an ethical framework and with experience that allows the individual to effectively work creatively to solve new, novel and evolving problems within a culturally diverse, globalized workplace, society and economy.
I will expand on this issue at length in the fall, but I want to end this discussion by pointing out the critical nature of ethics and culture as well as professional expertise. Kant focuses much attention on the moral basis of decision making. Today, our language would consider the fundamental nature of ethical behavior as being at the core of good decision making. Ethics must be integrated into a synthetical education if it is to be successful. Likewise, the ability to function across cultures is a core criterion for this type of education. Classroom learning will help, but real experience with other cultures will help more. So, a synthetically educated individual will be able to function as a contributing member of society at work, as a citizen, and as a member of a family or community. That is the essence of what it means to have a career rather than a job. In a career, work is contextualized within a life framework that entails understanding, reflection, values and ethics, as well as expertise.
I hope that you will think about these issues some over the summer as you garden or relax. They are critical to our future and we will focus much more thoroughly on them in the beginning of the academic year.
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