a. Higher education plays a vital role in the economic development of the nation and of the State by providing the education and training of the work force of the future and by advancing science and technology through research.

b. New Jersey has an intense concentration of high technology industries and research facilities and is the headquarters of some of the world’s most productive corporations. In the last decade of the 20th century, it has become obvious that New Jersey’s institutions of higher education will have to change and improve their educational and research facilities in order not only to prepare students to fill existing jobs in a highly technical world, but also to create new jobs as well.

c. In order for New Jersey students and businesses to be competitive with their international peers, the public and private sectors must continually take steps to enhance the technology and research facilities at our colleges and universities. To do otherwise would result in the failure of New Jersey businesses to remain competitive, a decrease in the number of jobs available to New Jersey workers, a decline in State and personal income, and the loss of potential students to other, more technologically advanced institutions in other states.

d. If New Jersey is to maintain the expansion of its economic development and continue to provide an adequately trained work force to retain and attract industry to the State, New Jersey’s public and private institutions of higher education must be strengthened to provide services to meet the needs of the 21st century.

e. In order to protect the State’s economy and preserve and enhance our higher education system in today’s global and technological society, there is a crucial need to identify an ongoing funding source to construct, expand, and update instructional, laboratory, communication, and research facilities at New Jersey’s public and private institutions of higher education.

L.1993,c.375,s.2.