Good afternoon. I am Satish K. Tripathi, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at the University at Buffalo.
If New York State is to remain relevant in the global knowledge economy, New York State must recognize the critical role its public research universities play in our global, state, and regional economies.
We are clearly in the midst of an economic crisis, not only in our region and state, but across the nation and around the world. In the face of this crisis, planning strategically over the long-term has never been more important to our current and future prosperity. That is why it is vital that we think as carefully about our long-term investments as about our immediate budget cuts.
Across the globe, countries such as India, Singapore, and China are investing in their higher education infrastructures because they recognize the critical role that higher education assumes in their nation’s economic stability and their nation’s economic future.
If we fail to acknowledge that higher education is the key to our region’s and State’s economic prosperity, and therefore fail to invest in SUNY and our research universities, the Buffalo region and New York State will be in the untenable position of being a generation behind our state peers and our global competitors.
In today’s globally connected and globally competitive world, the only way to be a leader in a 21st century knowledge-based economy is to invest in higher education. The public research university educates our state and nation’s engineers, physicians, teachers, bio-technicians, research-scientists. The public research university is the hub of our state and nation’s research innovation. Having a workforce that is prepared to meet the demands of a globally competitive, knowledge-based economy and having a dedicated research engine are critical to our state and nation’s economic stability and growth.
With that said, divesting in the SUNY, divesting in our state’s public research universities will only prolong and deepen the economic crisis facing the Buffalo Region and New York State.
Today, this divestment in higher education is being felt across all of our SUNY campuses. At the University at Buffalo, the largest and most comprehensive institution in SUNY, we are facing a $21 million permanent budget cut.
Knowing that we could not sit idly by and wait for SUNY’s declaration regarding the budget, the University at Buffalo developed a strategy and implemented a process to deal with the dire economic reality that we find ourselves in today.
We know that it will be difficult to fully mitigate the impact that a budget reduction of this magnitude will have on our university mission and vision. However, we have, to the degree possible, taken charge of our current financial destiny by implementing a strategic financial plan to put us in a better position to respond to this daunting reality.
We know—in unequivocal terms—that further budget cuts will negatively impact our ability to recruit and retain the world-class faculty. We know that further budget cuts will make it very difficult to expand access to a world-class education while attracting more of the best and brightest students from across the state, nation, and world. And we know that further budget cuts will impact our ability to be an economic engine for our region and state.
With this economic crisis, it has become utterly apparent, that New York State needs to diversify its economy. The diversification of our state’s economy can only be achieved by building a workforce that is prepared to contribute to a knowledge-based economy and by building a research infrastructure that will bring innovation to the marketplace.
Without the state’s commitment to investing in SUNY and our research universities, New York State will lack the workforce and the intellectual capital necessary to conduct translational research, thereby losing many opportunities to bring technological and clinical innovations to the marketplace.
Investing in SUNY, investing in our public research universities, can provide the critical foundation for a diversified New York State economy.
In the face of this crisis, planning strategically over the long-term has never been more important to our current and future prosperity. And, at UB, we have taken a longer view; we do believe in the importance of planning strategically over the long-term. UB2020, our plan for the future, can be the foundation for building a robust regional and state economy.
With our UB2020 plan, the University at Buffalo is poised to become a synergistic hub of bio-tech innovation, clinical research, patient care, and clinician training through the creation of a downtown Buffalo Academic Health Center.
A downtown Academic Health Center will bring more than 13,000 faculty, staff and students to work, learn and live in downtown Buffalo.
One must understand that the city of Buffalo is the 3rd most impoverished city in the country. Our UB2020 plan to build a downtown Academic Health Center is crucial if we want to reverse this shamefully stark reality.
When fully implemented, UB2020 can be instrumental in providing a brighter future for City of Buffalo citizenry and our entire Western New York region in the form of new jobs, workforce development, and job retention. UB2020 will be the critical force in transitioning Western New York’s manufacturing economy to a 21st century innovation economy.
If New York State committed to investing in the University at Buffalo and our proposed Academic Health Center, UB’s current economic impact of $1.5 billion would grow to $2.6 billion by the year 2020.
But we can’t do this alone. To fulfill our university’s great potential and to maximize our impact on our regional and state economies, UB needs long-term investment and support. The same is true for our fellow SUNY institutions across the state, which already have a critical economic impact on their communities and are poised to play an even more important role in their regions’ future, but only if they are given the necessary support and investment.
We must find a way to invest in our future—today.
Thank you. And thank you to the members of the SUNY Board of Trustees for supporting a rational tuition policy, regulatory reform, and investment in SUNY’s research universities.
Last Modified: Tuesday November 03 2009