Six billion dollars in funded research annually, including $3.2 billion in federal funding, for Big Ten Conference schools.
Nearly 20 percent of all engineering doctorate degrees awarded nationally -- and 25 percent of all agricultural doctorate degrees.
Collaborative initiatives among Big Ten schools that result in millions of dollars in savings each year.
Those are just a few reasons a move from the Big 12 to the Big Ten might make sense for Nebraska.
While much has been said about how the move would affect Nebraska's athletic programs, what would it mean to academic programs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln?
"I think that in the time that we have joined the Big Ten, the value of our affiliation has become even more apparent to faculty and students - who are provided with more opportunities for research and recognition," said Penn State spokeswoman Lisa Powers.
Penn State, the last university to join the Big Ten, came on board in 1990.
University of Nebraska officials declined to comment on a possible move to the Big Ten, a topic that has drawn intense speculation.
The Big Ten is considering expanding its conference, and Nebraska is one of several schools mentioned as a possible addition. The others include Missouri, Rutgers, Notre Dame and Syracuse.
The Big Ten is the only Division I conference that has all of its members affiliated with the Association of American Universities, which is made up of 63 leading research universities, including the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Considering AAU universities receive about 57 percent of all federally funded research provided to universities annually, the Big Ten has become known as a home for the best research universities in the country.
By comparison, the Big 12 has seven AAU members; the Ivy League, seven; the Pac-10, seven; and the Atlantic Coast, five.
"I'm not sure that it brings you any more funding automatically," Northwestern University's Alan Cubbage said of being a Big Ten school.
"You are recognized as one of the best universities in the country as a result."
But the Big 12 isn't completely without its academic benefits.
The Big 12 Faculty Fellowship Program offers faculty the chance to travel to member institutions to exchange ideas and research. Faculty visits are typically for two weeks.
The Big 12 also offers scholarships to student-athletes. About 225 scholars have received $1.3 million through the Dr. Prentice Gautt Postgraduate Scholarship Program since it began 13 years ago.
But at least one Big 12 university professor said the conference is focused mostly on athletics.
David Clough, a University of Colorado professor of chemical and biological engineering, has served as his university's faculty representative to the Big 12 for five years.
He sees little organized academic or research collaboration among Big 12 universities. While individual faculty at Colorado work with other faculty around the country, those collaborations rarely, if ever, have anything to do with conference alignment, he said.
"The extent of cooperation in the Big Ten schools might well be higher," Clough said. "That may just come out of their tradition."
All Big Ten schools, as well as the University of Chicago, are members of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, an organization that fosters collaboration among its members.
That collaboration has taken many forms, including:
Barbara McFadden Allen, director of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, said about 200 students a year use the traveling scholar program.
- Library sharing, which allows students and faculty at member schools to share the 85 million library volumes held by member schools. A project is now in the works to digitize print collections at CIC schools to build a commonly shared digital repository.
- Collective purchasing: Purchasing directors at CIC schools negotiate better prices on products, saving their schools more than $19 million to date.
- Traveling scholarship opportunities: Big Ten doctoral students can attend other conference schools for up to a year without having their residency or tuition affected.
"It's enormously valuable to those students," she said.
The CIC serves as a forum for its member universities to collaborate and find solutions to problems, she said. About 100 peer groups across the CIC's member schools meet regularly to discuss issues.
"What's unique in the CIC is we have this structure to connect faculty that want to," she said.
Cubbage of Northwestern University praised the Big Ten Network - the conference's own TV network - for giving Big Ten schools the chance to showcase their academic, as well as athletic, programs.
He said Northwestern regularly produces programs featuring innovative research and other academic efforts.
"It is a wonderful platform to tell good stories about your university," he said.
Powers, of Penn State, said being in the Big Ten has improved her university's academic reputation. Penn State, she said, also has benefited from collaborative opportunities offered by the CIC.
"Penn State is an international institution and our joining with the Big Ten has helped us become a more prominent player on the international level," she said.
LINK
Last edited by a moderator:
