University research: administrative aspects and the future of undergraduates

Abstract

Research was introduced in universities more than a hundred years ago, around the same time the scientific method of research grew into what it is now [1,2]. The University of Columbia created its first centre where teaching, research and patient care were combined in 1928 [3] whilst The University of Cambridge started doing research only after 1945 [4]. An important point to mention here is Rockefeller University, which, since its creation in 1901, has been involved in biomedical research [5]. The introduction of research to universities was meant to bring together two important aspects of medical education: learning and discovering. We observe that this allows students to learn what was discovered first hand, assuring an up-to-date curriculum; as well as to learn how to discover. Yesterday’s students are today’s scientists and there is no better point at which to start being interested in research as those young years in which some of the most important characteristics of the human being are: curiosity, motivation to achieve and the ability to work. Undergraduates also are unlikely to not be disconcerted by the lack of significant results or the inability to be at the forefront of the research team. Introducing research into universities seems to have been highly successful. We cannot even imagine, at the moment, how it would have been if professors didn’t do research. We have also grown to expect our teachers to be the best in their area of interest and who else would we want to be the creators of tomorrow’s medicine, if not the best of the best? An important aspect of university research is represented by the funds required for it to be done. This leads us to the administrative aspects of research, which can be taken care of by economists employed by the university, so as to leave researchers free to do their job. A significant role is played by the dean of the university who represents the person best suited to act as a liaison between the medical professionals and the other persons implicated in research, such as biologists, biochemists, research assistants, bio-statisticians and others. As such, a dean must devote a good amount of time to pursue grant opportunities, assuring a healthy relationship between the numerous people involved in the various projects of the university and the investors (pharmaceutical companies, the government etc.). With this spectrum in mind we realize that a dean should be willing to reduce his own research and find pleasure in these administrative aspects. However, a good dean ought to be an experienced researcher himself, as this will allow him to see both facets of the problem: the medical one, as well as the financial and economical one [6]. An important point, which is not to be ignored, is represented by the ability of dedicated university-based researchers to spark the interest of students into research from their first undergraduate years. However, for a student researcher there is one important requirement: a mentor. The lack of one can be a real problem, due to the shortage of time that already exists, as teachers have to educate, practice and do research [7,8]. Several solutions have been found to this problem. One of them is represented by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants directed towards these faculty members who work with five to ten students in a real research program and, after one year of the program implementation, the results are presented at various conferences; with both parties involved gaining in the process [9]. The best union between research and teaching can be found in programs which are innovative through the main subjects of their curricula. Biomedical informatics falls exactly into this category. It focuses both on newer aspects of medicine, such as the path of drugs from molecules to bedside treatment and the new areas of genomics, as well as on the improvement of the educational program. This is done through both internal and external peer review, asking the opinion of both students and postgraduates and through self-assessment reports [7]. Several such programs can be found in the Czech Republic [10], the United States of America [11,12], Australia [11] and China [13]. Numerous countries have low research budgets, distributed between several select academic centers and hospitals. This makes it harder for researchers in smaller universities, who face geographic isolation, to do meaningful research and share their results. A solution to this problem was found through the use of novel technologies like teleconferencing which allows for the peer support needed [14, 15]. It has been done by the Western Writers Coercion Group [16]. This is an inter-institutional, interdisciplinary faculty writing support group that began in June, 2003. Meetings are held every week via teleconference, with the aim to improve the writing skills and productivity of its members and are open to both faculty members and graduate students [17]. The opinion of this author is that groups as this one, using cheap or even free teleconferencing solutions (such as Skype), could offer a solution to the above mentioned problem. At the moment, research has become so important that most countries use undergraduate research as a way to measure the quality of a university, through items like those included on the National Survey of Student Engagement, used in the United States of America [7,8,18,19]. Bucharest, Romania; A final demonstration of the extent to which research has grown in universities is the way of measuring a country’s research activity through the prestigious prizes received by