Societal benefits include the development of human potential, and the expansion of the economy by enhancing the quality of the workforce and through technology transfer. Beyond favorable economic indicators, there are many practical and cultural contributions for the common good in new knowledge created in such diverse fields as agriculture, medicine, music, art, literature, science, ecology, engineering, and economics. The rationale for allocating and directing resources in the state has been to obtain the best quality programs by concentrating, not diluting, limited resources. This condition necessarily, however, raises questions about the accessibility of various programs to all those desiring study in given fields and about strategies to extend accessibility. Graduate education and research directly and indirectly enrich undergraduate programs.
Graduate programs serve as a base for the strong research capabilities of our universities.
It is at the graduate level of education where U.S. colleges and universities serve as the global leaders, attracting talent from countries around the world as well as growing numbers of American students. Within a context of undisputed national quality and accomplishment in both advanced education and research, Oregonians can be proud of their state universities which have strong reputations at home and abroad. A variety of mechanisms is in place in the State System to provide programmatic quality assurance. Student demographics differ from one institution to another. Graduate education is expensive.