<p>I could write a book on the subject, but I lack the time. </p>
<p>1) One of ways in which Michigan has strengthened its position over the years are in building ties with corporate recruiters across the nation and industries. In the 50s and 60s, the majority of Michigan students ended up working for the Big 3. For thelast decade, the Big 3 have barely made the list of the top 10 recruiters (in terms of numbers) on the Michigan campus. That honor has gone to Investment Banks in NYC, major tech companies (such as Google, Microsoft, Intel etc…) in the West Coast and giant corporations such as Boeing, GE, Lockheed etc… </p>
<p>Below are links to employment reports for the Michigan Business School (Ross) and the Michigan College of Engineering. In both cases, you can clearly see that the largest employers at Michigan have not been Michigan-based companies:</p>
<p>Ross figures, 2008 (scroll down to page 7 for placement information)
<a href=“Error 404! Page Not Found. - iMpact Web Portal”>http://www.bus.umich.edu/pdf/EmploymentProfile2008.pdf</a></p>
<p>Ross figures, 2007 (scroll down to page 7 for placement information)
<a href=“Error 404! Page Not Found. - iMpact Web Portal”>http://www.bus.umich.edu/pdf/EmploymentProfile2007.pdf</a></p>
<p>Ross figures, 2006 (scroll down to page 9 for placement information)
<a href=“Error 404! Page Not Found. - iMpact Web Portal”>http://www.bus.umich.edu/pdf/EmploymentProfile2006.pdf</a></p>
<p>Ross figures, 2005 (scroll down to page 22 for placement information)
<a href=“Error 404! Page Not Found. - iMpact Web Portal”>http://www.bus.umich.edu/pdf/EmploymentProfile2005.pdf</a></p>
<p>Ross figures, 2004 (scroll down to page 26 for placement information)
<a href=“Error 404! Page Not Found. - iMpact Web Portal”>http://www.bus.umich.edu/pdf/EmploymentProfile2004.pdf</a></p>
<p>College of Engineering, 2008 (scroll down to page 10 for placement information)
<a href=“http://career.engin.umich.edu/annualReport/Annual_Report0708.pdf[/url]”>http://career.engin.umich.edu/annualReport/Annual_Report0708.pdf</a></p>
<p>College of Engineering, 2007 (scroll down to page 10 for placement information)
<a href=“http://career.engin.umich.edu/annualReport/Annual_Report0607.pdf[/url]”>http://career.engin.umich.edu/annualReport/Annual_Report0607.pdf</a></p>
<p>Michigan is one of the nation’s top 15 universities, particularly where academics and industry are concerned. Companies come from all over the world to recruit its graduates. I would not worry about the state of Michigan’s economy. The University of Michigan has positioned itself in a way that has made the campus one o fthe most strategic. As the numbers above clearly indicate, fewer than 10% of Michigan graduates end up working for Michigan-based companies. And one more thing, the state of Michigan’s Economy is not as bad as many people think.</p>
<p>2) Another way in which Michigan has improved its position over the years has been in the development of its endowment. In 1986, Michigan’s endowment stood at $250 million. It’s endowment was barely ranked among the top 25 in the nation. As of last June, Michigan’s endowment stood at $7.6 billion, the 6th largest university endowment in the nation. As of last June, only Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton and MIT had larger endowments than Michigan’s. Michigan has experienced a 3,000%+ increase in endowment size over a 22 year period. No other university has come close. Duke, which enjoyed a 1,700% increase in endowment size over that period of time, is second. Only a handfull of universities have enjoyed more than a 1,000%increase in the size of their endowments.</p>
<p>[List</a> of colleges and universities in the United States by endowment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_the_United_States_by_endowment]List”>List of colleges and universities in the United States by endowment - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>There are plenty of other ways in which Michigan has strengthened its position, but I trust those two are sufficient.</p>