Author Topic: Editorial: More Funding For ND Universities  (Read 3551 times)

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Offline pmp6nl

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Editorial: More Funding For ND Universities
« on: March 14, 2011, 07:47:25 PM »
Quote
Two excellent universities have earned more funding
Most North Dakotans have no idea that there are 11 institutions of higher education in the North Dakota University System, funded by the taxpayers of North Dakota.

By: Steve Scheel, INFORUM

Most North Dakotans have no idea that there are 11 institutions of higher education in the North Dakota University System, funded by the taxpayers of North Dakota. Many can name five or six, while some can name eight or nine.

In late January, a group of experienced business people, without connections to the university system, came together to study the history of funding for higher education in North Dakota. We challenged ourselves to understand funding for the past 10 years and to determine what level of funding was reasonable, from a business perspective, to support our universities and colleges for the next two years since the Legislature appropriates funds for a two-year period.

We concluded that funding is based on history and old formulas and makes no sense in today’s world. We do it this way in North Dakota because it has been done this way for years. A study and major change is needed.

We also concluded that while all 11 institutions offer a quality education to their students, the University of North Dakota and North Dakota State University have shown tremendous growth the past decade and are in a class by themselves, yet comparatively, the two institutions are the most underfunded institutions in our state.

It can be argued that the real economic engines of our state in the foreseeable future will be energy, agriculture, UND and NDSU. The recent collaboration between UND and NDSU, led by their visionary new presidents, bodes well for the future of both schools, if we can allocate the funding to keep them growing and improving to attract brighter minds from greater distances.

As the number of college-bound students from inside the state has leveled off and is predicted to drop, NDSU and UND have grown, attracting more and more students from out of state. And the best news is 40 percent of these out-of-state students at NDSU are staying in North Dakota after graduation, and this percentage is growing by 1 percent each year. These students also pay more for their education. And as UND and NDSU improve their facilities and programs, the universities will become more attractive to students from across the country and around the world.

An example of the excellence in their graduates is at Microsoft. There are 90,000 employees at Microsoft, and 39 of those have the title of “distinguished engineer.” Thirty-six are in Redmond, Wash., one works outside the U.S., and two live in Fargo and work at Microsoft in Fargo. Both are NDSU graduates, one from North Dakota and one from Minnesota.

We are fortunate to have a huge budget surplus in North Dakota. While most state governments are hemorrhaging red ink, our legislators are arguing over how much to give back to the taxpayer. After serious study, our group of fairly conservative business people hopes that the Legislature will provide funding to our two major universities for 2011-13 that approximates the recommendation of Gov. Jack Dalrymple and the requests from the presidents at UND and NDSU.

At this historic juncture of economic prosperity and unprecedented opportunity, we must provide funding to take both UND and NDSU to a higher level. Future graduates from these two exceptional and evolving research universities will benefit the entire state of North Dakota for decades to come.

Scheel is chairman/CEO, Scheels. Also contributing to this commentary were Bruce Furness, Fargo mayor 1994-2006; Chuck Hoge, former CEO of Bobcat and former CEO of Otter Tail Corp. Manufacturing Platform; Mike Krueger, president of the Money Farm; Mike Bullinger, president of Cityscapes Development LLC; Jim Wieland, partner, Goldmark; Tom Dawson, president of Dawson Insurance; Jim Roers, president of Roers Development.
From: http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/312161/group/Opinion/

Its refreshing to hear support for more funding coming from someone other than higher ed people.  I like that this editorial is authored by respected and well known ND business people.
CampusDakota.com

Offline pmp6nl

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Re: Editorial: More Funding For ND Universities
« Reply #1 on: April 15, 2011, 05:04:54 PM »
It looks like the funding situation may be evolving, we will see what happens.
CampusDakota.com

 

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