Forces for Change

The Association of American Universities (AAU), founded in 1900, is composed of America’s leading research universities. Member universities strengthen the contributions of leading research universities to American society.

In February 2024, AAU published an update on public opinion towards higher education (Appendix A: AAU Polling Data). They cited, in the past decade, the percentage of Americans who expressed a loss in confidence in higher education (Figure 1). This is a clear indication that higher education needs to better tell their stories including the impact of their research enterprise. The national study, fielded January 17 – 21, 2024, surveyed 6,000 US adults, with fieldwork completed by Dynata Research. Weighting of this study, like all other polls, was post-stratified to accurately represent the demographic distributions of the US adult population by region, age, race—/ethnicity, gender, and educational attainment. Poll results (Figure 2) indicate that 49 to 61 percent of the respondents America’s leading research university make the nation better off with the remaining response indicate that research universities make us worse off, have no impact, or do not know of the universities impact.  In addition, 50 percent or less of the respondents think that it is true that research universities make the country better off by producing groundbreaking medical research that save lives, by making advances in agricultural that will help local farmers grow more food and do better and by making technological advances that can be used by businesses to grow the economy, among others (Figure 3).

A Third-party media study, performed by MSL, provided 2023 data relative to A&M marketing, engagement of audience, thematic area, affirming the necessity for change and strategic focus (Figure 4, 5, 6, 7). Appendix B: MSL Media Study

Peer and aspirant peer universities were evaluated in comparison to Texas A&M for specific research areas, for volume and engagement (Figure 5).

Expectations included metrics on interest in Texas A&M research topics, understanding of engagement, potential impact of research stories, plus additional insight into market segments (Figure 6).  The Executive Summary indicates findings and recommendations for improvement, (Figure 7).