Where are our universities headed?

Over the past several years, demand for graduates with degrees in pulp and paper science and engineering has slumped to less than half of historic levels. Not surprisingly, enrollments in most pulp and paper programs now have also shrunk by more than half. This creates a serious threat to the viability of some of these programs. There exists a real possibility that one or more of these programs will be eliminated unless these trends can be halted and ultimately reversed.

A LIGHT OR A TRAIN?

There are now some indications that many mills have reached the point where the technical bench strength in the workforce has disappeared, and an up-tick in entry level hiring of engineers is anticipated. However, this is likely a one-time adjustment to what is otherwise a long-term downturn in U.S. pulp and paper industry hiring of entry-level scientists and engineers. In addition, with the pulp and paper science and engineering pipeline only half-full, the industry faces increasingly stiff competition from other industries in recruiting graduates from traditional engineering programs.

At the same time, pulp and paper programs can no longer rely on the pulp and paper industry as the primary employer of their graduates. In other words, the strong and unique relationship between the industry and the "paper schools" is in danger of being considerably weakened.

Meanwhile, the Pulp and Paper Education and Research Alliance (PPERA) universities have been intensifying their own recruitment efforts to shore up enrollments with only mixed and limited success to date. The anticipated upswing in industry hiring will likely have no short-term impact, and in any case, it is doubtful that this turnaround will be sustained sufficiently to have a long-term positive effect on enrollments.

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Each university must, of course, shape its own strategy in response to the new realities of the pulp and paper industry, but several common elements seem clear. First, the most optimistic demand projections suggest that, at least in the near-to mid-term, the trend line in industry entry level technical hiring will remain flat at the current low point of about one-half the historic rate.

Also, the current negative image of the industry in the eyes of bright young aspiring engineers will not rebound, at least in the near term. This means that the PPERA universities will do well for now to just maintain their present low pulp and paper enrollments while hoping that the industry will be able to hire the lower graduating numbers on a sustained basis.

Finally, while all PPERA universities continue to enjoy strong support from pulp and paper foundations--some with substantial scholarship endowment--this alone is no guarantee of survival because university program viability requires maintaining adequate enrollment levels.

So, a university strategy that is based on projected enrollments of less than 50% of previous levels is not likely to produce much success or even survival. Clearly, to be successful our programs must afford a broader range of career opportunities for graduates as a basis for a positive and credible recruitment program.

Recently, some of the PPERA universities have responded by converting from pulp and paper programs to chemical engineering programs. Others, such as Auburn University, have always been based in chemical engineering. Conversion to chemical engineering is a step in the right direction, but it may not be sufficient. Enrollments in chemical engineering are also at a low ebb, so just being a newly minted chemical engineering department (and one out of nearly 160 nationally) may not be all that is required.

INVENTING THE FUTURE

The key to success may well be suggested by a major national trend among chemical engineering departments to counter their own enrollment difficulties by modifying their curricula to incorporate more of the biological sciences and even changing their names to Chemical and Biological Engineering, or a similar variant. As of December 2004, between one third and one-half of all U.S. chemical engineering departments have already done so.

Space does not permit a complete explanation of this profound shift. Suffice it to say here that, in the pulp and paper case, the future of our industry lies in the direction of bio-separation, bio-conversion, and bio-processing of woody bio-mass--that is, in the transformation of our mills into forest biorefineries. This is the clear direction emerging from the American Forest and Paper Association (AF & PA) Agenda 2020 program.

Several of the PPERA universities have already moved ahead of this trend. The University of Minnesota has changed the name of its department to the Department of Bio-based Products and revamped its curriculum accordingly. Auburn University now offers the pulp, paper, and bioresource specialization in chemical engineering. Look for others to follow similar paths since these changes show great promise in enhancing our recruitment message and reversing current enrollment trends.

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In addition, one can readily envision a longer term positive impact of these changes on the image of our industry and the technical and societal opportunities these changes can catalyze. Converting a pulp and paper mill into an integrated forest bio-refinery that produces fuels, power, chemicals and fiber-based products from renewable resources affords an exciting range of technical challenges and opportunities. At the same time, it offers the real prospect of significant improvements in industry profitability and societal acceptance.

We can avoid the threat of weakening the historically robust alliance between the pulp and paper industry and the PPERA universities, but this will require significant change on both sides of the relationship. The will to embark on new paths is growing stronger in our universities, and the leadership and encouragement of the industry through Agenda 2020 is reassuring. The challenge is to synchronize the required academic and industrial paradigm shifts and to move them forward much faster than usual. The existing strong partnership between PPERA and Agenda 2020 provides the platform from which we can rapidly move forward.

The future of the PPERA university programs remains intimately tied to the future prospects of the U.S. pulp and paper industry. The industry is in dire need of re-invention, combining technological breakthroughs with a technologically advanced workforce. Our universities have already begun their own process of re-invention to help lead the way to re-establishing the U.S. industry as a global leader. Failure is not an option.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN:

* How reduced demand for graduates with pulp and paper degrees is affecting traditional academic programs.

* How universities are responding to this trend.

* Why some universities are modifying their curricula to incorporate more of the biological sciences and even changing their names to Chemical and Biological Engineering.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

* "The role of pulp and paper education today," by Jim Thompson, Solutions!, November 2003. Product Code: 03NOVSO25 (Enter Product Code in search field at www.tappi.org).

HARRY CULLINAN, AUBURN UNIVERSITY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Harry T. Cullinan is director of the Pulp and Paper Research and Education Center at Auburn University and president of the Pulp and Paper Education and Research Alliance. Contact him by email at: [e-mail]

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