Blueprint for an Innovation Economy in Florida Research as Economic Foundation | Page 16

Equally concerning, on at least one measure of faculty quality
Florida does not measure up. Election by peers to a “National
Academy” is considered by many to be a key indicator of
quality. See the sidebar for information from the National
Academy website on The Academy. 24
The Center for Measuring University Performance 25 considers
National Academy membership as one of the two criteria
they use to objectively judge faculty quality in their annual
report on “Top American Research Universities”. Due
to the National Academy’s consideration of “continuing
achievements in original research” as their criteria for
selection, it is the measure of quality of faculty for this report.
“Members are elected to
the National Academy of
Sciences in recognition of their
distinguished and continuing
achievements in original
research. Membership is a
widely accepted mark
of excellence in science and
is considered one of the
highest honors that a scientist
can receive.”
TABLE 3
State
National Academy Members
in 2013 National Academy Members
Multiple of Florida
Florida 51 1.00
California 1,216 23.84
New York 411 8.06
Texas 174 3.41
CA/NY/TX 600 11.77
For each academy member Florida universities field, our peers have 12.
HOW WE GOT HERE
It would be appealing for the reader to conclude
that Florida universities and their leadership are
the heart of the problem with Florida’s relative
performance. That would be simple and wrong. It
would also be tempting to throw stones at today’s
elected officials. That also would also be simple
and wrong.
Research in Florida is part of an extremely
complex system. As a system, weakness in one
or more major components impacts the system
as a whole. Today’s heart health is a function
of yesterday’s lifestyle choices. So too, today’s
research performance is a function of the choices
and decisions of decades ago.
It has been estimated that 75 percent of the
costs to run a university are related to personnel
expenses, including benefits. 26 In our report,
14
“Florida Higher Education – Is the Cheapest
Fiscally Sound?”, 27 we identified significant
relative funding challenges at Florida universities,
particularly our very high research institutions. 28
Per full-time equivalent student, Florida research
university revenue is 51 percent of the U.S.
average and 42 percent of the three peer state
competitors. The shortfall in the quantity and
quality of researchers is unquestionably linked to
this competitive disadvantage.
For decades, a number of factors have
contributed to checking the market forces
governing Florida higher education economics.
1. Tuition policy: Tuition has long been a
challenge for university administrators and
Florida’s elected officials 29 who have favored
low rates (See Figure 12). Furthermore,