Giving Compass' Take:

• Robert Abare, writing for the Urban Institute, highlights the views of  Rebecca Blank, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, on the reasons why research universities could be an excellent option for addressing inequality. 

• The tricky part about higher education is that while it can tackle inequality by providing opportunities to learn new skills and acquire knowledge, not all of these opportunities are accessible to everyone. Focusing on accessibility might be the best avenue to take when discussing issues of inequality in higher ed. 

• Read about how philanthropy could change higher education funding. 

The problem is clear: gains in wealth and income over the past few decades have primarily benefited those in the top income brackets. How to address this problem, however, is far more complicated.

Research universities could be a large part of the answer, explained Rebecca Blank, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin–Madison, at the 2018 Paul Offner Lecture. Hosted by the Urban Institute and the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the lecture honors the late Paul Offner, a Wisconsin state senator, adviser to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, professor at Georgetown University, and scholar at the Urban Institute.

Blank pointed to two factors critical to economic growth that research universities help support: A skilled workforce an technology and innovation.

“Almost all of the economic growth seems to be going to people at the top of the income brackets,” Blank noted. “People with more skills have gone up in income, people with less skills have lost out. Less skilled jobs have also been outsourced to other countries.”

Research universities might be the best avenue to help workers gain advanced skills. But many argue that not everyone who attends a research university will benefit from it. To help research universities better help students and transfer skills, Blank pointed to four important factors:

  • Access and affordability.
  • Quality of teaching and curricular coherence.
  • Quality and availability of counseling.
  • Support from family and friends.

In a question for Blank, president of the Urban Institute Sarah Rosen Wartell quoted Eduardo J. Padrón, president of Miami Dade College: “Talent is universal, opportunity is not. Colleges and universities have a choice: they can be either incubators of talent and innovation or engines of inequality.”

Read the full article about research universities by Robert Abare at Urban Institute