A coalition of 15 universities, including Michigan State, has conducted more than $10.2 billion in research, more than twice that of the University of California System or the Ivy League, according to a recent report.
In its recently released Annual Report, the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) details how it saves its members millions of dollars. The benefits are achieved by capitalizing on resources, leveraging joint purchases and contracts, and expanding opportunities for students, faculty, and staff though shared resources on member campuses who work together to solve problems faster.
“The CIC’s key strength is that it leverages both investments and ideas, which reflects our understanding that there is power in shared purpose and that through aggregation, institutions can achieve far more together than separately,” June Pierce Youatt, Michigan State University Provost said. “CIC member universities have a powerful voice in academic conversations, both nationally and globally.”
As budgets continue to be constrained, the CIC continues to offer the value of collective purchasing power resulting in $20.6 million in savings in FY2013-14.
The report also highlights the CIC’s emerging Health Disparities Collaborative between the state departments of health and member schools, the work of the Big Ten/CIC-Ivy League Traumatic Brain Injury project and data on the economic impact of the scientific workforce and the research being done across the campuses.
“For more than half a century, leaders of the CIC universities have recognized that no single institution has sufficient faculty, funding, or facilities to meet the escalating challenges of higher education,” Barbara McFadden Allen, executive director, CIC said. “Together we have built the most sophisticated collaborative infrastructure in higher education.”
A founding member in 1958, Michigan State is a partner university in the Committee on Institutional Cooperation, the nation's premier higher education consortium of top-tier research institutions, including the Big Ten Conference members and the University of Chicago.
For more about the CIC, please visit: www.cic.net.