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STATUS OF THE ENTERPRISE. 6 Whether the quantity and quality of basic research and graduate education in the United States will be adequate or inadequate depends primarily upon the government of the United States. From this responsibility the Federal Government has no escape. Either it will find the policiesâand the resourcesâwhich permit our universities to flourish and their duties to be adequately dischargedâor no one will. 4 The second decision meant, in operational terms, that U.S. basic research and graduate education would be carried out as joint university activities. A 1964 report of the National Academy of Sciences described this teaching-research relationship as fundamental to the success of U.S. science. The report recommended against placing basic research in non-university laboratories and strongly opposed hiring distinguished scientists for non-teaching university research positions: Graduate education can be of highest quality only if it is conducted as a part of the research process itself. The research must not be in the form of mock problems; it must be a part of the exploration of the unknown, with all the uncertainties and challenges that go with it. By the same token, research can remain truly a quest, with freedom to follow unexpected lines, if the tentative conclusions of recent scientific research are tested in the interplay of advanced teaching. 5 Over the past three decades, the two decisions have been tested by strain and tensionâdirect results of changing patterns in financial support, employment of academic personnel, and student enrollments. Each decade has presented policy-makers with a unique set of challenges, problems, and opportunities. 1958 TO 1968: EXPANSION Between 1958 and 1968, the major challenge was the management of growth. By 1968, academic institutions conducted half of the nation's basic research, up from 30 percent in 1958 (Figure 1-3).* In addition, academic research more than doubled its share of the nation's economy, growing from 0.10 percent to nearly 0.25 percent of the gross national product during the same period (Figure 1-4). With rapid growth in funds for basic research, total academic research and development expenditures more than tripled, from under $2 billion (in 1988-constant dollars) in 1958 to nearly $7 billion in 1968 (Figure 1-5).** The greatest growth rates occurred in the life and social and behavioral sciences (Figure 1-6). Academic research personnel in public universities that award doctoral degrees grew from 13,000 to 23,000. 7 In private doctoral universities, the growth was similar, from 12,000 researchers in 1958 to * Figures 1-3 through 1-20 begin on page 1-11. ** Unless otherwise noted, all data regarding academic research include the following broad academic fields: life and health sciences, physical sciences, environmental sciences, engineering, mathematics, computer sciences, and social and behavioral sciences.
