Midwest university leaders gather on campus to discuss funding, future of public research universities

John Morgridge recalls that his mother, a teacher, could have walked into a classroom throughout most of her 102 years and had it seem like a familiar place.

But in recent years, classrooms have been dramatically transformed by technology — a trend that will continue to build over the next decade, Morgridge told group of university leaders from around the Midwest who gathered last week at UW–Madison.

Students who have grown up sending text messages and getting information from devices like Apple’s iPad will drive the adaptation of new technology, and classrooms of the future are likely to be built around such advances as interactive whiteboards and video conferencing capabilities, said Morgridge, chairman emeritus of the board of directors for Cisco Systems.

“I don’t know what it will look like, but it’s going to be different and it’s going to look different,” he said of the future of higher education.

The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities’ meeting, which attracted chancellors, provosts and other top officials from about 30 schools, was one of five regional gatherings of public research university leaders to discuss the future of their institutions.

UW–Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin, who hosted the meeting, said she hopes the group will develop a set of recommendations at the national level for ensuring public research universities’ leadership in research.

“We serve as an engine for the economy, not only by educating and attracting talent from all over the world, but by virtue of the research at public universities that leads to hundreds of start up companies, thousands of new technologies, licenses, patent applications and issued patents each year,” Martin said.

The group also heard from Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, who offered the university leaders advice about approaching elected officials on such university issues as budget pressures and rising tuition.

Morgridge and his wife, Tashia, both 1955 graduates of UW–Madison, have actively supported a range of education, conservation and human services initiatives, and have a long and distinguished record of support for UW–Madison and the Wisconsin School of Business.

Public research universities are vitally important to the competitiveness of the United States, Morgridge said, adding that educating workers and offering interesting jobs that are stimulating mentally and physically are the keys for growing the economy — something universities are well positioned to do.

“The great research universities are kind of a bastion of that kind of undertaking and capability,” Morgridge said. “Education is a legitimate export.”

Morgridge said public universities must start adding technology and preparing to compete with private universities — some of them for-profit institutions, and some that will teach students remotely. Cisco’s academy for those working with its technology has trained more than 3 million people around the world, he said.

Doyle said public universities should to do more to engage in the marketplace for higher education and better serve the needs that are being met by private for-profit institutions.

“Our higher education public campuses are rooted in models that go back to a different form of education,” Doyle said. “There’s a big, big need out there that our state university system…and technical college system is not meeting.”