Portrait of 2045

Michigan Tech: A global technological university that inspires students, advances knowledge, and innovates to create a sustainable, just, and prosperous world.

  1. Diverse internationally competitive faculty - 400 in tenured or tenure-track positions and 40% of all faculty in endowed positions
  2. Diverse student body of 10,000 - $500 million scholarship endowment
    1. 6,500 Undergraduates
    2. 2,400 Masters [2,000 coursework/professional]
    3. 1,100 PhD
    4. 40% female and one of the 10 highest public universities in percentage of engineering degrees granted to women
  3. Globally literate graduates with strong communication skills
  4. A transformational undergraduate experience in a residential learning environment
  5. Internationally recognized for research, development and innovation
  6. Sustainable financial model with decreasing proportion of state funding
  7. Entrepreneurial, efficient, service-oriented and sustainable university culture
  8. Year-round Calendar

Notes on 2045 Numeric Goals

Projection method

Numerical targets for Enrollment, Freshman High School Grade Point Average (GPA), and Graduating PhDs are projected linearly from the present to the 2045 goal; Financial metrics of Sponsored Awards and Endowment Value are projected using a constant compounded interest rate.

Enrollment

Goals are taken directly from the Portrait of 2045.

Freshman High School GPA

Arbitrarily specified at 3.8/4.0.

Endowment

From the Portrait of 2045, the 40% of 400 faculty positions being in endowed positions, at our current $1 million per professorship, implies $160 million endowment in today’s dollars. Coupled with the $500 million in endowed scholarships, gives $660 million in today’s dollars in 2045. Our current Michigan Tech Fund inflation assumption is 2.25% annually, resulting in a future 2045 value of $1,258 million. This further implies a 9.1% annual growth, which includes the growth of the current endowment plus new funds raised.

Graduating PhDs

Using the rule of thumb that at steady state about 1/8th of the enrolled PhDs graduate per year, the target of 1,100 implies about 140 graduates per year [actually 137.5].

Sponsored Awards

Currently, dividing our annual sponsored awards by PhD enrollment gives approximately $100,000 per enrolled PhD student. The Portrait of 2045 goal of 1,100 PhD students gives a Sponsored Awards total of $110 million in today’s terms, or about $210 million in 2045 using the same MTF 2.25% annual inflation factor. This further implies an increase of about 4.5% per year from the 2015 base.