[December 17, 2012]

Fitch: NIH Plan Could Pressure Some U.S. Universities

In June 2012, the National Institute of Health (NIH) created working groups charged with supporting growth and diversity of the biomedical research workforce and utilizing biomedical data more effectively. Last week, the NIH proposed a broad implementation process for these initiatives that will undergo further clarification before enactment in 2013.

Fitch believes these NIH initiatives, which are intended to improve diversity issues and create a sustainable training and support framework for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, will create a need for additional internal controls to be implemented by universities.

Fitch expects universities with significant NIH funding or entrenched research programs to have the ability to manage through the changes while less nimble entities will struggle to meet the proposed guidelines. Additionally, Fitch believes institutions with proactive management teams and a focus on expanding their research programs within the healthcare sciences will be more likely to make these changes. Research institutons which find it problematic to implement the necessary changes could experience increased competition for program funding.

Additional information is available on www.fitchratings.com.

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