Beginning
this weekend students arrive at the University of Rhode Island to begin our
next academic year. It’s an
exciting time of year, especially for our new students and their families, but
also for all of us in the URI community.
We begin this new academic year in the midst of significant challenges within
a rapidly changing environment. Given
the magnitude and complexity of those global challenges facing us, I think that
higher education has never been more important. It will be, for the most part, the current and future
generations of students – that’s you – who will have to craft or discover the
solutions to issues ranging from building economic prosperity to dealing with
climate change. The University of
Rhode Island is here to help prepare you to take on those challenges and
issues.
But
we can only help. Merely paying
tuition and showing up does not guarantee that you will be prepared to
succeed. Recently another
university president was quoted in Inside
Higher Ed as saying: “The debate as to whether students are our customers
is over. They have money and they have a choice of where or whether to invest
in a college degree. That’s the definition of a customer.” In my opinion, and with respect, he
could not be more completely wrong.
First, I doubt many faculty would agree that the debate is over, and
with good reason. Second, students
are not customers because an education is not a commodity nor a service that
you can purchase. An education is not like cornflakes or help with your taxes.
It would certainly be simpler if education was a commodity or a service, and
perhaps that is part of the appeal for thinking about it in that way.
In
reality, your education depends as much on you as on the faculty. Yes, they know a lot more about their
subjects than you generally do. Collectively, they have devoted a great deal of
time in continuously improving their teaching effectiveness and in creating
new, relevant academic programs.
In the end, however, all their efforts – all their expertise,
experience, and wisdom – will not matter if you think about your education the
way you do your choice of cereal, or beverage, or your nail technician. Your education is something you must
actively create in partnership with the faculty. Your education will be as
good, or as inadequate, as you want it to be. Make no mistake, you can get a great education at the
University Rhode Island, and that is precisely what we want for each of you.
Why?
Because you are our nation’s, the world’s, and the future’s greatest
asset. It’s not just the
University of Rhode Island’s community that believes this. The people of Rhode Island are
investing over $77M this year in your education here. Thousands of URI alumni
and friends have invested as well, providing scholarships and support for your
education. Frankly, I think that
you are so important to the future that Rhode Island and the federal government
should invest even more.
Our
competition certainly is. Sitting on my desk is a report entitled “The Competition that Really Matters.
Comparing U.S., Chinese, and Indian Investments in the Next Generation
Workforce.” It is a sobering, 100
page report from the Center for American Progress and the Center for the Next
Generation. While in America we
seem to be trapped by the “do more with less” mentality with regard to higher
education, China and India have decided that it takes more to do more, and are
rapidly increasing their investments in education at all levels. Apparently they remember, even if we
seem to have forgotten, the old American adage that “you get what you pay
for”. According to the report,
China surpassed the United States in 2007 in the numbers of college graduates
in science, engineering, and technology, and is now “the world’s largest
provider of higher education.” India already awards more bachelor’s degrees
than the U.S. and by 2020 will confer 4 times as many each year. That is a lot of competition in the
global economy. Your opportunity
to get a job and build a career will depend on how you do in that competition. Your success will drive America’s
success.
That
is why I think America needs to invest more, not less, in research, technology,
and higher education. Your success
will strengthen that case. Since there are fewer of you, you will need to be
better than our competition in order to keep America strong and
prosperous. I hope you enjoy your
time here at the University of Rhode Island – college can, and should be, fun –
but creating your education is a very serious matter. Let’s work together to make your education everything it
needs to be. Welcome to URI.
