Competitiveness in Academic Research

What does it take for a university to become competitive in research? How do weaker institutions become more competitive and how should they gauge their progress? Can operationally-meaningful indicators of research competitiveness be developed and applied? These questions are increasingly important in an academic environment characterized by shrinking finances, growing expectations, and political cross-pressures.

The papers in this book seek to answer these questions while examining the relationship between research competitiveness and the sometimes conflicting roles of the university in educating its students, serving its community, and helping to stimulate economic development in its region.

Competitiveness in Academic Research is the product of a two-year study conducted by AAAS and funded by the National Science Foundation's Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research. EPSCoR is an effort to build federal-state partnerships aimed at cultivating the research capabilities of universities in the states which receive the least federal funding.

The AAAS study examined research competitiveness in several ways: through case studies of five EPSCoR states; through a series of focus group discussions with practitioners (scientists, administrators and policy makers); through a set of commissioned papers by distinguished experts examining the changing environment of research universities and several aspects of competitiveness; and through an invitational conference, held in April 1995, involving about 40 participants from a wide range of disciplines and perspectives. All of these components are represented in this important book.

Contents
Chapter 1: Changing Expectations for the Research University Susan E. Cozzens
Chapter 2: The Determinants of Research Competitiveness Among Universities Irwin Feller
Chapter 3: Competitiveness in Research: Perceptions of Practitioners Albert H. Teich and Kathleen M. Gramp
Chapter 4: Making the Grade: Institutional Enhancement of Research Competitiveness Roger L. Geiger
Chapter 5: Developing Science: Notes from the States W. Henry Lambright
Chapter 6: Indicators are the Solution - Now, What is the Problem? J. David Roessner
Chapter 7: Assessing Competitiveness in Research: Synthesis and Implications David D. Dill