Growth, though, has slowed to a crawl and may never reach pre-recession levels, Brogan said. He believes Florida should follow the example of North Carolina, which has replaced declining industries with high-tech industries by using its universities as research and work force magnets.
Brogan said plans are being developed for each of Florida's schools to align research and degree production to the economic needs of their regions, the state and nation.
"It is not micromanaging," Brogan insisted. "I like local control. I think our board likes local control."
He said there needs, though, to be a system-wide approach to make sure higher education is paying the greatest return possible on investment.
"It also will help us look at perhaps unneeded or unnecessary duplication," Brogan said. "It will obviously tell us where there might exist voids in some essential services."
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