Focus on Research vs. Focus on Teaching

By Sami Ahmed

A problem that has no perfect solution for universities is to balance a universities’ focus on teaching and research. According to Paula Krebs in the Chronicle of Higher Education, “Balance between research and teaching is never easily achieved. In any institution below the top of the Carnegie pecking order, teaching invariably wins out over research in the day-to-day battle for faculty time and energy. … Research becomes what you do in your spare time.” This however applies to lower ranking universities. Georgia Tech, one of the highest ranking universities in the engineering field, is known to be heavily involved in research.

Being involved in research can have its down falls. The professors are focused mostly on their research, then their classes. Students sometime feel that their teachers’ don’t put enough heart into their teaching. Universities heavily involved in research can sometimes not put enough emphasize on teaching, especially on the basic courses.

Universities that are involved heavily in research can really help a student though in the long run, especially as they are reaching the end level of their higher education. Institutions that are involved in research have more real world facilities. The students learn from the professors who are right now in the frontlines in the scientific world. The students also get involved in the research themselves, which makes them more prepared for the work field.

To sum it all up, Universities that are heavily involved in research have their flaws when it comes to teaching some of the basic easy courses. Once a student becomes an upperclassmen or grad student, research institutions are extremely beneficial.