We've always relied on our universities to solve our problems-make our society more equal, our farms more productive, our military more potent, our technology more powerful, our very minds and bodies healthier. So now the question is whether colleges and universities can turn all that transformational power inward, figure out how to maintain their world-class excellence while addressing the social, economic, political and technological challenges they face. On Sept. 19 and 20, Time convened a summit of educators, business leaders, government officials and reformers to discuss the future of higher education, the subject of this week's cover story. They examined the threats to basic research-"If we don't do it, no one else will," argued University of Pennsylvania president Amy Gutmann, who summed up the consensus view. The 2012 operating budget for the National Science Foundation was $7 billion-about $100 million less than Americans spent on potato chips.
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