THE trade representative for the governor of Washington stopped by a few weeks ago to discuss the difficulty of selling apples in Japan and more than one copy of Windows 95 in China. He also spoke of the strong ties between the University of Washington and the state's major industries. Town and gown
go hand in handJust as Silicon Valley's growth is fueled by Stanford University's computer labs and business school, so Seattle's state university keeps Boeing and Microsoft staffed with some of the world's best engineers and programmers.
The University of Hawaii has a similar role. Unfortunately, many areas in which UH excels -- astronomy, ocean science, tropical agriculture -- aren't fields likely to generate the thousands of new jobs that would keep the next generation from leaving the islands.
We need to make some practical choices to diversify our economy and insulate it from tourism's ebb and flow. For example, if we want to be the health-care center for the Pacific, the UH medical school must be first class.
U.S. News published its ranking of American colleges last week. UH made the list of top 25 public national universities, albeit in 25th place. It earned an "academic reputation" score (based on evaluations by presidents and deans of similar institutions) of 2.1 out of 4.0. Yes, UH is in the game, but a diploma from Manoa still won't open as many doors as one from any University of California campus. Even Santa Cruz scored 2.6.
A strong, smart UH is an economic necessity.