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Category: Higher Education

SBIR Extension Signed by President

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The President signed a bill late last week that will extend the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program until September 30, 2011. The previous extension was set to expire on the 31st of May. There is no increase to the set-aside at this time which will remain at 2.5% for research agencies with R&D budgets greater than $100 million. The extension passed as part of a larger Small Business Administration (SBA) measure.

While the House and Senate have disagreed on several issues regarding the reauthorization of SBIR, the House eventually passed the extension, as it will give negotiators more time to work out a longer-term reauthorization.

FY11 FIPSE Grants Cancelled

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The Department of Education has cancelled their FY11 FIPSE grant process due to lack of funds.  The following explanation is posted on the Department’s website: “Congressional action on the FY 2011 budget substantially reduced funds available for grants from the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education, including new grants under the Comprehensive Program. Therefore, no new awards will be made under the Comprehensive Program in FY 2011.”  Read more.

DREAM Act Reintroduced

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Senate Democrats plan to reintroduce the DREAM Act.  Just like the previous versions over the past several years, this year’s version will likely authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to cancel the removal of, and adjust to conditional nonimmigrant status, an alien who:

(1) entered the United States before his or her 16th birthday and has been present in the United States for at least five years immediately preceding this Act’s enactment;

(2) is a person of good moral character;

(3) is not inadmissible or deportable under specified grounds of the Immigration and Nationality Act;

(4) has not participated in the persecution of any person on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion;

(5) has not been convicted of certain offenses under federal or state law;

(6) has been admitted to an institution of higher education (IHE) or has earned a high school diploma or general education development certificate in the United States;

(7) has never been under a final order of exclusion, deportation, or removal unless the alien has remained in the United States under color of law after such order’s issuance, or received the order before attaining the age of 16; and

(8) was under age 30 on the date of this Act’s enactment.

Read more about the Senate Democrat’s plan.

SBIR Reauthorization Makes Progress in House, Hits Roadblock in Senate

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The Senate convened this morning to vote on a motion to invoke cloture that aimed to limit further debate on the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) bill (S493) and its reauthorization through 2019, but failed to meet the required minimum of 60 votes. There was increased controversy arising from the bill, as amendments attached to it were considered irrelevant to the program; this included amending a provision to eliminate tax credits for blending ethanol with gasoline and tariffs on imported ethanol. It is expected that Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will now turn away from the bill since cloture was not invoked.

 The SBIR Program is geared to aiding small businesses in R&D fields.  The current SBIR bill requires federal agencies with research and development budgets over $100 million to set aside 2.5% of its annual budget for small companies to conduct R&D. One of the provisions within both the House and Senate reauthorization bills concerns the gradual increase in the annual set-aside for small businesses from 2.5% to 3.5%. The UW has joined the broader university research community to support reauthorization of the SBIR program, but also expresses its opposition to any increase in the set-aside without a corresponding increase in the overall fiscal budgets for the research agencies. An increase in the set-aside without a corresponding increase in the research agencies budgets would draw billions of dollars away from funding for important scientific and medical research currently conducted at research universities.

 In the House, progress continues on its version of the SBIR bill (HR1425). Several amendments to the bill have already been voted on and the legislation is currently awaiting full committee consideration and markup.

The current SBIR extension is set to expire on May 31st.

Administration Focuses on Strategies to Increase College Graduation Rates

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In late March, America’s Promise Alliance–founded by former Secretary of State General Colin Powell, held a three day “Building a Grad Nation” summit in Washington, DC. The purpose was to inspire a movement to reach a goal of a 90 percent national college graduation rate by 2020 and place the US in the lead for the highest proportion of college graduates. To reach the President’s 2020 goal, the US must increase the number of college graduates by 50% and turn out at least eight million additional graduates by the end of the decade.

Vice President Biden spoke at the event, saying, “Today, we’ve got an education system that works like a funnel–when we need it to work like a pipeline…the skills of our college graduates will pave the way to a bright economic future for our nation.”  Education Secretary Duncan added, “America once led the world in the number of college graduates it produces, and now we’ve fallen to ninth…the best jobs and fastest-growing firms, whether in biosciences, technology, manufacturing, trade, or entertainment, will gravitate to countries, states, and communities with a highly qualified workforce. In order for the United States to lead the world, every governor will have to lead the way home.”

The Administration also released a college completion toolkit, which identifies seven no-cost or low-cost strategies, 15 related action steps, and a series of existing federal resource streams from which to draw.

The toolkit can be found here.