Undergraduate Research Experience for Building World

Class UniversitiesCheryl L. Brown, PhD

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Academic Consortium 21Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Shanghai, China October 19-20, 2010

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Even though we’re oceans apart, we’re as close as neighbors.

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World Class UniversitiesAcademic Rankings of World Class Universities (Shanghai Jiao Tong University)Criteria: Quality of education, Quality of faculty, Research Output, and Per capita Performance Worldwide use Other rankings (e.g., QS World University Rankings) Rankings give vision to strategic planning

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World Class Universities and Educational Strategy

Involved in strategic planning of countries and universities for 21st century innovation, knowledge economy, and human capitalCompetition for talent—faculty, postdoctoral students, graduate students, and undergraduate studentsCompetition for prestige in research and teaching (as teaching and research are related) Competition for resources—national and international; public, private, and non-profit; and alumni

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World Class Universities and National Strategy

Linked to national strategy

Prime Minister Singh of India vows to set up 30 world class universities as “launch pads” for the country’s entry into the knowledge economy (June 2007)President Nicolas Sarkozy is supporting the creation of Paris-Saclay, a cluster of 23 universities, colleges, and institutes touted as the university of the 21st century in France. (May 2010)

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World Class Universities and National Strategy

Collaboration for national strategyArab-Japanese forum in Egypt and Tokyo led to the first Japanese University in Africa and the Middle East--The Egypt-Japan University for Science & Technology (E-JUST) To offer undergraduate and graduate courses in business, culture and engineeringTo alleviate joblessness, brain drain, and pressure on public universities to accommodate the growing number of students in higher educationTo become a world class university in 10 years

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World Class Universities—the Undergraduate Research Criterion

Undergraduate research not a criterion but a growing focus on and expansion of the undergraduate level at world-class universities (WCUs)Enhanced focus at WCUs following the Boyer Commission’s Reinventing Undergraduate Education: A Blueprint for America’s Research Universities (1998) Over time WCUs have incorporated undergraduate research into the strategic plan and mission of the university in varied ways

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World Class Universities—Integration of Undergraduate Research

Culture of university—strong undergraduate research programs at WCUs have undergraduate research as part of the mission and strategic plan Public universities- often more complex organizations with some units more focused on undergraduate research than othersPrivate universities-may not have the programs of public universities but seek top students

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Multi-faceted Approaches to Undergraduate Research (Top 100)

Vanderbilt (#41) –alumni support, journalAustralian National University (#59), journalUniversity of Aarhus (#97)World class in mission statementDecentralized programs—integrated into departments/programs/centersSummer programs

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Multi-faceted Approaches to Undergraduate Research (Top 100)

The University of Tokyo (#20, 2009)University of Michigan (#22)University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill (#39) Ohio State University (#62)University of Virginia (#91)

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Multi-faceted Approaches to Undergraduate Research (Top 100)

Tokyo, Michigan, UNC, OSU, and UVAStatement of strategic plan/goalsUndergraduate research centerWebsiteTokyo-Information studies Others-comprehensive, conferences, awards, research community Centralized and decentralized

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Multi-faceted Approaches to Undergraduate Research (152- 200)

The University of DelawareCore principlesUndergraduate research newsletterSummer programArts and humanitiesUndergraduate Poster Competition (Biochemistry and Molecular Biology)

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Multi-faceted Approaches to Undergraduate Research (201-302)

National Tsinghua UniversityUniversity of Central FloridaTransformative experiences

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Multi-faceted Approaches to Undergraduate Research (201-302)

National Tsinghua UniversityTransformation with undergraduate program in 1990sSeminars with top professors led to Freshman Seminar 2003Cross-disciplinary, multi-level (freshman seminar, senior seminars, topic seminars) interactions/activities with renown professors as mentorsMore than 250 freshman seminars

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Multi-faceted Approaches to Undergraduate Research (201-302)

University of Central FloridaOffice of Undergraduate ResearchWebsite with quick linksResearch journalCentralized and decentralizedRelates undergraduate research to success at UCF

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Attraction of Undergraduate Research

Development of human capital for knowledge economyCreative inquiry and application skill setFuture graduate students and faculty to contribute to building WCUsRelevancy of undergraduate courses

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Undergraduate Research Among Organizations

Council on Undergraduate Research (1978)-affiliated colleges, universities, and individuals as members—Posters on the Hill, international outreach, publicationsNational and international conferences for students and facultyNational and international research journals

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Undergraduate Research Among Consortia

Inaugural Symposium of C9+1 (Fudan University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Nanjing University, Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Tsinghua University, University of Science and Technology of China, Xi’an Jiao Tong University, Zhejiang University, and Hong Kong University) –meeting challenges of 21st century, September 2010

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Undergraduate Research Among Consortia

Inaugural Symposium of C9+1 (Fudan University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Nanjing University, Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Tsinghua University, University of Science and Technology of China, Xi’an Jiao Tong University, Zhejiang University, and Hong Kong University) –meeting challenges of 21st century, September 2010

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Issues of Undergraduate Research

Faculty development and resourcesIncorporating technology for the Millennial generation (1980 – 2000)Virtual collaboration for the gaming generation (MacArthur Foundation and EDUCAUSE)Scalability of programs for WCUs

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Thank You