Atlanta — March 9, 2005

The University System of Georgia’s income for extramural funding has set another record, reaching $980,683,276 in Fiscal Year 2004. The numbers, released in a report today to the Board of Regents, represent a 14 percent increase over Fiscal Year 2003’s total of $861 million. Extramural funding includes grants and contracts for research, public service and instruction.

“One of our goals as a System is to increase our extramural funding by $100 million a year, and this latest report indicates we are on target,” said University System Chancellor Thomas C. Meredith. “While all extramural funding is up, in particular our research programs continue to garner national attention and financial support, as measured by the record levels of income they are generating.”

Of the $980.7 million, $651,581,363 was for research, $234,945,211 was for public service, and $94,156,702 was for instruction. In Fiscal Year 2004, funding for research alone jumped 22.3 percent over Fiscal Year 2003. The report for Fiscal Year 2004 shows that 71.6 percent of the System’s research income came from federal sources, while 4.2 percent came from the state of Georgia. The non-profit sector accounted for 8.6 percent of the total, with business contributing 8.6 percent. Other sources combined for the remaining 7 percent.

“In recent years, we have seen a continual and marked increase in the grants and contracts our research institutions are earning,” said Senior Vice Chancellor for Academics and Fiscal Affairs Dr. Daniel S. Papp, in a presentation to the regents. “These dollars represent a tremendous vote of confidence by key federal agencies and the private sector in the quality of our research. These dollars also reflect a significant return on investment relative to the state’s support of public higher education.”

Papp said the University System follows a number of key strategies that are contributing to the ability of institutions to secure greater levels of research funding. These include:

• focusing institutions on research, increasing collaboration among System institutions;
• increasing collaboration with government and industry through entities such as the Georgia Research Alliance and the Georgia Cancer Coalition;
• diversifying funding sources beyond federal and state agencies; and
• competing nationally and internationally.

While the recent track record of research in Georgia is good, high-volume research activity in the University System is still new, relative to other states. “Research in the System is reasonably impressive by national standards, but it’s growing as indicated by this latest report,” Papp said. “This type of activity provides another engine to help Georgia’s economy. When we are successful in this arena, the national reputation of our programs and institutions grows, which fuels additional increases in research funding and, ultimately, more economic growth for the state.”

The report also details technology transfer and license and equity income in the University System. In 2004, there were 420 research disclosures in the University System, 185 patents filed, 137 licenses approved and 18 start-up companies.

The presidents of three of the System’s four research institutions participated in today’s presentation, prepared by the Regents’ Office of Strategic Research and Analysis: Dr. Wayne Clough of the Georgia Institute of Technology, Dr. Michael Adams of the University of Georgia, and Dr. Daniel Rahn of the Medical College of Georgia. Each addressed the infrastructure at their respective institutions, which contribute to the record-level success in research funding.

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