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Friday, February 18, 2005
Start the real engine
If state leaders think they have had trouble restarting Washington's economic engine the past few years, they should consider what it will be like if they continue neglecting their higher education research institutions.
The prospects are not pretty.
As a Seattle Post-Intelligencer special report outlined in stark detail yesterday, the economic powerhouse created by the University of Washington is the envy of other states. Leaders elsewhere have made commitments to dramatically increase their universities' ability to grab larger shares of research dollars, in which the UW currently ranks No. 2 nationally. At the same time, key federal funding sources are likely to either shrink or stagnate under budget pressures.
As with most aspects of higher education, the Legislature wants to talk a good game but carefully avoids putting its money where its mouth is in support of the UW and Washington State University. Both universities have grown accustomed to losing some promising faculty members to better-paying positions with top universities elsewhere. But last week, Montana State University lured away a WSU researcher who has a $1.2 million grant.
Skimpy state support for UW research has long worried business leaders. Susannah Malarkey, executive director of The Technology Alliance, said of the UW, "We starve it at our own peril." If lost, the UW's research strengths will be almost impossible to recover.
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| Should the state invest more in Higher Ed? | |
 10.2%The universities get enough already |
15.5% Universities could redirect what money they get now |
| 71.7% Yes, it's money well spent |
2.7% Don't know |
| Total Votes: 187 | |
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