Michigan’s three largest universities contributed about $14.8 billion to the state’s economy in 2009, in spite of the region’s inability to experience positive economic growth, according to a report released Thursday.
The University Research Corridor, or URC, — comprised of MSU, the University of Michigan and Wayne State University — increased its economic impact to the state by about 15 percent from about $12.9 billion in 2006, said Patrick Anderson, founder of Anderson Economic Group which led the 2010 Empowering
Michigan report.
“The research universities should be commended for benchmarking themselves,” he said. “URC universities continue to place higher
across the country.”
Michigan’s URC was compared to other “research clusters” across the country, including Pennsylvania’s “cluster” of Penn State,
University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University, for example.
Enrollment numbers from URC institutions also increased by 5,517 students since 2006, totaling to 137,152 students, ranking No. 1 of seven national clusters, according to the report.
As it appears, the pace of research and development is accelerating across the state — it is difficult to find a negative impact involving the corridor, said Jeff Mason, executive director of the URC.
“I think it’s really a testament to the outstanding research at these three world-class research universities,” he said. “I think they are obviously competing for dollars with researchers around the country and appear to be very successful.”
If the data shows the state educators are teaching more students and the URC was granted an average of about 136 patents, which ranks No. 3, Michigan could receive a necessary kick in starting to improve its financial situation, Mason said.
“Certainly as the economy improves, we think the URC can play a critical role in helping Michigan diversity and help the state’s economy,” he said.
But universities themselves cannot hold the state’s own.
“Without the three institutions, if heaven forbid, one of these three would disappear, it would have a devastating, negative impact on the state,” said Charles Ballard, an MSU economics professor.
A healthy economy involves retaining educated graduates and spurring growth of businesses, Anderson said.
Allisyn Mattice, a James Madison College freshman, said although the state always will be home, it might not be a place of permanent residence if there are no jobs available.
“If there are no jobs here, I’d go out of state,” she said. “There would be no places to start my career here. Otherwise, I’d stay.”
The full report can be found at urcmich.org.
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