Counterpoint:

No one disputes the fact that the merger will improve Rice’s standing in rankings based exclusively on total research expenditures.

However, Rice has not yet conducted a study to determine the impact of the merger on the national rankings (USN&WR, NRC, etc.) of Rice and BCM, as recommended in the FMRC Report.

In the absence of a study that specifically considers Rice and BCM, we will look at other available studies to determine if the addition of a medical school raises the research competitiveness of a university.

Research Competitiveness Across Rice

It is true that the Rice-BCM merger will create a critical mass of faculty in the biomedical area, increasing the probability of success in competitions for large centers in life sciences. Even for such competitions, however, we increasingly see several large institutions joining forces in order to be more successful. Big challenges require expertise that may not be available in a single institution, however large that institution may be.

But what will happen to the other 80 to 90 percent of the university that will not be enhanced by the merger?

A 2001 report from the Center for Measuring University Performance addressed this issue and reached the following conclusion: “...When a medical school generates a surplus and invests that in support of research, its presence as part of the university will make a major contribution to its research competitiveness... [The existence of a] medical school alone does not guarantee competitiveness...”

Another more recent report considered the change in national rankings that would result from ordering 149 private and public institutions by their research expenditures with and without the medical school contributions. This analysis again did not reveal any consistent trends in the change in national rankings from the presence of a medical school in a university.

The adverse consequences may take many different forms. For example, many competitions come with a limited-submission condition.  NSF's Major Research Instrumentation program allows only three submissions per institution per competition. For such programs, the merger would create an internal competition between Rice researchers and BCM researchers, making it more difficult for Rice researchers to obtain funding.

Another Condition for the Merger

All available evidence suggests that a medical school can enhance the competitiveness of an institution only if it can generate substantial surpluses for investment in research. 

This is why it is not enough to ensure that BCM comes up with a plan to eliminate its budget deficit before a merger can take place. In addition, BCM must be able to (a) sustainably generate surpluses from its clinical operations and/or hospital partnerships, and (b) invest these discretionary revenues to support and grow the research enterprise of the entire university.

    If all these conditions are not consistently met, a merger with BCM will not only fail to strengthen Rice’s research foundation but may even weaken it.

Point:

From the Rice-BCM site - Question 3

A combined Rice–BCM would be positioned for enhanced success in major federal and other sponsored research and philanthropy — Rice would move quickly to the upper ranks in research funding. In 2007, Rice recorded $54 million in federal research expenditures and ranked No. 130 among research universities. BCM recorded $263 million and ranked No. 32. A merged Rice and BCM in 2007 would have totaled $317 million in federal research funding, which would have ranked Rice–BCM at No. 23, just behind Yale ($349 million), the University of Minnesota ($347 million) and the University of North Carolina ($337 million), and just ahead of Ohio State ($313 million), Vanderbilt ($312 million), Case Western ($305 million) and the University of Texas at Austin ($289 million).

From the Rice-BCM site - Question 15

Federal funding for Rice would increase significantly as a result of the merger. As an example, in 2007, Rice received $11 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health; Baylor College of Medicine received $211 million.

Teaming up with BCM will create a critical mass of faculty and a strong reputation in translational medical research — two key ingredients needed to dramatically increase Rice’s funding opportunities not only from the biotechnology sector and pharmaceutical companies, but also from foundations and private donors.

From the Rice-BCM site - Question 16

Based on indications from the faculty so far, we would expect 10 to 20 percent of Rice faculty members to pursue biomedical and other BCM-related endeavors. The vast majority of Rice faculty would continue their present research and teaching. The breadth of that work is an important part of what makes Rice unique.