Colleges, universities, and academic medical centers play a vital role as engines of learning, innovation, prosperity, and opportunity in America’s cities. But they face growing tectonic stresses: declining public confidence in their programs and value propositions, weak completion rates, overly narrow and incremental research, threats to free inquiry, and unsustainable financial models.
America needs thriving higher education and academic medical institutions—”eds and meds” institutions—in cities across the country, says this report from the George W. Bush Presidential Center. The study explores which cities are performing best in building effective innovation ecosystems and talent pipelines. It presents new rankings of U.S. metro areas for university innovation and community college outcomes. It includes rankings of 177 leading universities and other research institutions for innovation impact. It also highlights a first-of-its-kind dataset on the performance of one of the fastest-growing strategies in the eds and meds sector: urban innovation districts.