Floridas state universities have failed to create the proper nexus between learning and economic innovation, and it could lead to a wasted opportunity to grow the states economy, according to Frank Brogan, chancellor of the State University System of Florida.
The Sunshine States economic pillars of agriculture and tourism have been sustained thus far, but universities have dropped the ball in failing to properly develop high-tech, knowledge-based industries that lead to high-wage jobs, Brogan said. Without those businesses, Florida taxpayers will continue to help pay for the high-quality education of workers who will take their talents away from the state.
I want the next generation of laptops to be invented in Florida. I want the cure for cancer to be made here in Florida. I want those quality-of-life innovations that always seem to come from California or Boston or from other places in the world to find a home in Florida, Brogan told the Economic Club of Florida Thursday in Tallahassee.
Getting universities to properly prepare undergrads for industries that arent fully developed and pivoting from Floridas bread-and-butter economic engines to create the environment for a 21st-century, information-based economy is no easy trick, and cannot be done overnight, but Brogan gave the example of North Carolina as evidence that the feat can be accomplished.
As North Carolinas traditional economic drivers of tobacco, textiles and furniture began to fade, the Tarheel state invested in its universities, with the Research Triangle in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area and the University of North Carolina, University of North Carolina State and Duke University sparking innovation and new technologies that sowed the seeds of biotech firms that thrive there today.
Fifty years ago, the state of North Carolina made a considered decision and that was to create a knowledge-based economy, Brogan said.
Considering Floridas massive university system -- it has 11 campuses, and with 321,000 students is the fourth-largest in the country -- it should be able to have similar success, Brogan argued.
The clearest example of how Florida, its lawmakers and university leaders have failed to take advantage of its current assets is in the space program.
You cannot point to a public university in the state of Florida and say, That is our space university, Brogan said.
Now, with the imminent demise of the space shuttle program, high-wage engineers and other employees are already fleeing Florida for greener pastures where their high-tech skills can be utilized.
Besides helping to transform Floridas economy, the large university system must simultaneously contend with deep cuts and tuition increases resulting from the precipitous decline in state revenue caused by the recent recession. Next year, university students face a 15 percent tuition hike.
Yet Brogan thinks there is still room to grow, although state law guaranteeing the recipients of AA degrees entry to state universities is ballooning the system and increasing the burden on state coffers.
The good news is we have a large number of those students (AA degree-holders), but the bad news is that promise is getting harder and harder to keep, Brogan said.
The harsh budget times have led to universities becoming more dependent on private donations, but those gifts carry their own perils. Brogan said the recent controversy surrounding the donation by the wealthy Koch brothers to Florida State University to help promote free-market economics professors at the school has given rise to a debate at all schools about the nature of such agreements.
Schools should ensure that their gift agreements with donors maintain their control over the academic curricula, and be as pure as the driven snow, Brogan said.
Reach Gray Rohrer at grohrer@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
