Smith focuses on funding
strategies
Cougar News Services
Testifying before state lawmakers Wednesday,
UH System Chancellor and UH President Arthur K. Smith said Texas should
adopt a strategy that would
identify programs of opportunity and provide
them with the resources needed to achieve national prominence.
"Not every public university in Texas can
be, or should aspire to be, a Tier I comprehensive research university,"
Smith said before the Joint Interim
Committee on Higher Education Excellence
Funding. "The State has only limited resources to invest beyond those needed
for the other central priorities for
higher education, increasing access, participation,
and success for Texas students."
Smith also said any limited additional
resources should be used to fund only those institutions that are "truly
research-intensive." He said that strategy would
allow the state to earn a maximum return
on its long-term investment in excellence.
The University receives an average of approximately
$6 million from the Texas Excellence Fund during the current biennium.
UH-Clear Lake receives
$700,000 and UH-Downtown receives nearly
$55,000.
"I am particularly proud that we have achieved
this significant increase in research without sacrificing our commitments
to a strong undergraduate program
and a diverse student population," Smith
said. "Indeed, UH continues to be the most diverse comprehensive research
university in the nation."
The University received $53.1 million in
research funding during the last fiscal year, Smith said. UH set a single-month
record in November with $12.3 million
in research funds. "In our fiscal year
to date, we have received $37 million in research grants compared to $28.7
million during this same period last year,"
Smith said.
"I am convinced that we are investing these
funds wisely and in ways that will demonstrate convincingly that excellence
funding is sound public policy," he
said.
