National Science Board on Higher Education

Environmental and Science Education
Edward Hessler

By National Science Foundation [Public domain],
via Wikimedia Commons

The National Science Foundation Act of 1950, which created the NSF, states that “The Foundation shall consist of a National Science Board … and a Director.” Jointly the Board and the Director pursue the goals and function of the NSF, including the duty to “recommend and encourage the pursuit of national policies for the promotion of research and education in science and engineering.” This week, the National Science Board released a report on the value of higher education as a private and public good. It notes that "policy discussions about higher education have become increasingly limited, focusing on its near-term, individual, and private benefits. This approach fails to recognize the full range of near- and long-term public and private benefits of higher education, and that these benefits are deeply intertwined and mutually reinforcing."
This is a statement in support of all forms of higher education.
The comments and findings of the report are nicely summarized in a "sense-of-the-board" statement.