Purdue News
Purdue News
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Hats off to Purdue for focus on Indiana economy, studentsBy Jerry Semler The Indiana business community should applaud Purdue University for its new strategic plan. The plan, passed by university's board of trustees on Nov. 2, charts the course for this great university over the next five years. At the heart of the plan are very significant efforts to improve the education of its students and develop the economy of Indiana. It clearly and emphatically states that Purdue has a unique responsibility in Indiana's economic development. As President Martin Jischke has said repeatedly, Purdue was created as a land-grant university. It was born to serve Indiana and its people. In the 19th century and early 20th century, Purdue's land-grant mission focused on helping Indiana reap the benefits of the agricultural and industrial revolutions. Later, it took on the manufacturing economy. As the 21st century unfolds, Purdue again is rolling up its sleeves, applying that Midwest ethic, and leading the state toward its high-tech future. Purdue has taken measure of the niches in which Indiana could excel: nanotechnology, genomics, biotechnology and information technology. To help the state lead in those areas, Purdue's plan recognizes that it must rethink how it goes about discovery. Success in these areas requires an interconnectedness of disciplines. For example, biotechnology requires that researchers in agriculture join their efforts with those in electrical engineering, nanotechnology and materials science. Genomics calls upon biology, agronomy, computer science and veterinary medicine. And to move these discoveries to market, they need the expertise of business faculty. In turn, this interdisciplinary effort needs a different kind of flexible laboratory structure that can serve such a cluster of disciplines and provide the needed technology. Purdue's plan would accomplish this and also prepare the university's other important product: the educated work force that Indiana will need to be a player in the New Economy. The university intends to improve by putting more professors in the classroom – adding 300 faculty to reduce the percentage of classes taught by graduate students. It also will encourage its students to study abroad, work as interns and experience other kinds of hands-on learning that employers need. To do that, Purdue proposes raising money in several ways: reallocating money within the institution, raising private donations, increasing state support and attracting more research funding. It also will call on the beneficiaries of these efforts – its students – to help. All new undergraduate students on the West Lafayette campus will pay $1,000 more annually in fees. Shocking? What's shocking is that the university hasn't done this earlier. One of the leading universities in the world, Purdue is the most poorly funded in the Big Ten. When you combine state support and student fees, Purdue is at the bottom. Even with this increase, Purdue will rank only sixth in the Big Ten in student fees. It's a tribute to this institution's can-do attitude that it's done so well with so little for so long. Now it's time to move forward. Those who stand still today will only fall behind. As Purdue moves ahead, so does the state of Indiana.
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